Post by Mahnarch on Apr 13, 2009 11:55:35 GMT -5
www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2356/unshiny-day
...But again, given that nature emits more sulfide than man-made sources even today, such increases may not have had much impact tarnish-wise. Sure, silver flatware stored on-site at a chemical plant might get dirty in a hurry, but think about it: according to the EPA, an air sample taken on the open sea can contain more than ten times as much carbonyl sulfide as one taken in downtown Philly; hell, an average fart packs 18,000 times the hydrogen sulfide found in an equivalent quantity of city air. Unless our ancestors were a lot better at holding it in than we are, I'd bet that silver tarnish isn't much more of a scourge now than it was a few centuries back.
The EPA gets such a high level on the open sea because th' Scourgin' Chipmunk had just been through that stretch...
...But again, given that nature emits more sulfide than man-made sources even today, such increases may not have had much impact tarnish-wise. Sure, silver flatware stored on-site at a chemical plant might get dirty in a hurry, but think about it: according to the EPA, an air sample taken on the open sea can contain more than ten times as much carbonyl sulfide as one taken in downtown Philly; hell, an average fart packs 18,000 times the hydrogen sulfide found in an equivalent quantity of city air. Unless our ancestors were a lot better at holding it in than we are, I'd bet that silver tarnish isn't much more of a scourge now than it was a few centuries back.
The EPA gets such a high level on the open sea because th' Scourgin' Chipmunk had just been through that stretch...
