Posted by C(G) on February 09, 2004 at 17:29:31:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Offbeat plating question posted by Rick Denney on February 09, 2004 at 14:49:20:
Rick, Saliva is mostly alkaline (unless you've been drinking Coke or another soft drink loaded with phosphoric acid). But zinc reacts with bases as well as acids--try tossing a galvanized nail into a lye solution--it'll strip the coating right off. The same situation obtains for aluminum and magnesium as well.
Copper, however has no such reaction with bases and so is left behind when "red-rot" occurs.