Sustainable Olympic Medals

[Ben]

It appears the eco-friendly, "sustainable" Olympic medals from the Rio Olympics are not working out.

https://heatst.com/world/dozens-of-eco-friendly-sustainable-rio-olympics-medals-returned-because-of-decay/


Edited for subject line typo.

[HankB]

The medals were hailed as a masterpiece of sustainability because they used recycled materials in place of traditional precious metals.

Cheap crap handed out, but I bet funding for the real thing was allocated and made its way into SOMEbody's pockets.

Corruption down there is as pervasive as it is in Chicago city government.

[RevDisk]

Ding. It's not about the recycling or environmentalism friendliness, most likely they were using it to skim precious metals from the precious medals.

[Perd Hapley]

The funny part to me is how little the base medals help make up for the negative environmental impact of thousands of people converging on one location to play sportsball(s). If they wanted to save the earf, wouldn't they just suspend the games until we do something to stop THE GLOBAL WARMING DOOMSDAY CRISIS THAT ALL SCIENTIST AGREE IS REAL?!  

Or at the very least, they could tone down the ceremonial bushwa, and figure out how to let some of the contestants compete in their home countries. (For example, the long jump.)

[RevDisk]

"Feels before reals" is the catch term. You're supposed to care. You're not supposed to actually fix the problem in a meaningful, metric based manner using cost/benefit analysis, economic considerations and practical engineering.

Ask an environmentalist what they think about even a small scale experiment of injecting stratospheric sulfur aerosols to combat greenhouse warming. Relatively cheap, already long solid engineering track record (volcanos do this naturally) and well within current technology. Annual cost would be single digit billions of dollars at most, and costs would likely come down sharply.

[Ben]

precious metals from the precious medals.

Well done. :)

[Scout26]

"Feels before reals" is the catch term. You're supposed to care. You're not supposed to actually fix the problem in a meaningful, metric based manner using cost/benefit analysis, economic considerations and practical engineering.

Ask an environmentalist what they think about even a small scale experiment of injecting stratospheric sulfur aerosols to combat greenhouse warming. Relatively cheap, already long solid engineering track record (volcanos do this naturally) and well within current technology. Annual cost would be single digit billions of dollars at most, and costs would likely come down sharply.

So.....Chemtrails, in other words.   

[Fly320s]

So.....Chemtrails, in other words.   

On it, but thanks for the shout out.

[Scout26]

On it, but thanks for the shout out.

I'm already a fundraising bundler for the ICA....


Dimmer skies are safer skies..

[Fly320s]

I'm already a fundraising bundler for the ICA....


Dimmer skies are safer skies..

I've seen your work.  Nice job.

[KD5NRH]

Hmm...looks like the IOC standard for the gold medal for nearly a century has been silver plated with 6 ounces of gold, regardless of size, and they used .2 ounces on a medal that weighs about a pound.  That's 1,780 ounces of gold they shorted the standard by. 

[MechAg94]

A spokesman for the Rio Games claimed that most defective medals had been “dropped or mishandled”, or kept in inappropriate temperatures.

What is an inappropriate temperature for bronze, silver, or gold?

[KD5NRH]

What is an inappropriate temperature for bronze, silver, or gold?

Anything over 1200 Kelvin?

[Hawkmoon]

What is an inappropriate temperature for bronze, silver, or gold?

Apparently, "room."

[230RN]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2710760-over-100-2016-olympic-medals-returned-due-to-rust-black-spots

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/defective-olympic-medals-returned-rio-games-brazil-athletes-gold-silver-bronze-a7746056.html

I'm still confused as to what materials they were.  So normally there are three nominal classes of awards:  gold, silver, and bronze.

Some "rusted," some showed black spots, some the "varnish" had been damaged.

"Rusted" implies iron material, "black spots" would imply maybe silver (which turns black on exposure to a sulfur-rich environment) and "varnish" implies that the Olympics people knew they were fragile one way or another.

Gold is pretty incorruptible unless the gold peels off the substrate in "gold-filled" trinkets.

Silver is pretty soft and might require some kind of protective coating, and there's the sulfur thing.

Bronze is pretty incorruptible as well.  Bronze artifacts have fairly well survived for millennia under sea water, longer if just lying around.

Ferrous materials will rust, unless protective coatings like varnish are applied, or are galvanized or painted ("varnished.")

So exactly how were these things put together?  I can see lead or its alloys being used in the gold medals for the weight.

It almost seems ike it would have been cheaper in the long run to just make them of the nominal materials and be done with it with no bad publicity.

[Hawkmoon]

Some "rusted," some showed black spots, some the "varnish" had been damaged.

"Rusted" implies iron material, "black spots" would imply maybe silver (which turns black on exposure to a sulfur-rich environment) and "varnish" implies that the Olympics people knew they were fragile one way or another.

Gold is pretty incorruptible unless the gold peels off the substrate in "gold-filled" trinkets.

Silver is pretty soft and might require some kind of protective coating, and there's the sulfur thing.

Bronze is pretty incorruptible as well.  Bronze artifacts have fairly well survived for millennia under sea water, longer if just lying around.

Ferrous materials will rust, unless protective coatings like varnish are applied, or are galvanized or painted ("varnished.")

Of the three, gold is the only material that doesn't need some kind of protection. Gold doesn't rust and it doesn't tarnish.

Silver doesn't rust, but it does tarnish -- quickly, and badly, if not protected by some kind of clear overcoat. I have a couple of silver (probably silver-plated) bowls I won as trophies in my sports car racing days. If not polished with a good silver polish on a regular basis, they turn black very rapidly.

Bronze doesn't rust, either, but it darkens and turns dull unless coated with something. Traditionally, that something is clear lacquer, but I don't know if that's what gets used on Olympic medals.

[K Frame]

"I have a couple of silver (probably silver-plated) bowls I won as trophies in my sports car racing days. If not polished with a good silver polish on a regular basis, they turn black very rapidly."

Polish them to a nice sheen, and then go over them with two coats of Johnson's Paste Wax, or even Turtle Wax. Nothing with rubbing compounds, just a good quality high carnuba content wax.

[230RN]

Yeah, that sulfur tarnish is a real problem with silver or silver-plate flatware.  The trouble is, every time you polish it, you're removing some of the silver compound (silver sulfide, Ag₂S), and hence the silver itself.

Waxing is a good idea except for the flatware used for dining if you don't preclean the wax off before setting the table.

"The maid (or butler) was polishing the silver" is almost a cliche.

I'm still wondering what the cheapskate mint actually used for the faux medals.

Like: "Feels before reals."  Will steal.

[freakazoid]

Of the three, gold is the only material that doesn't need some kind of protection. Gold doesn't rust and it doesn't tarnish.

Silver doesn't rust, but it does tarnish -- quickly, and badly, if not protected by some kind of clear overcoat. I have a couple of silver (probably silver-plated) bowls I won as trophies in my sports car racing days. If not polished with a good silver polish on a regular basis, they turn black very rapidly.

Bronze doesn't rust, either, but it darkens and turns dull unless coated with something. Traditionally, that something is clear lacquer, but I don't know if that's what gets used on Olympic medals.

Speaking if silver, do silver coin minters put something on them? I've got a bunch of various silver coins and bars and none of them have tarnished.

[230RN]

Please note that I am not a coin collector.  I'm mainly interested in the chemistry involved, which is why I'm curious as to exactly how they built those Olympic medals.  Here's some stuff to lead you along.

http://coinsguide.reidgold.com/toning.html

Eventually bronze and silver coins, over perhaps hundreds of [sic:"or"] thousands of years depending on the chemical makeup of their environment, will transform into 100 percent of the reactive products, as the toning becomes thicker and thicker until it becomes the entire coin. The chemical reactions won't stop here, as entropic forces cause the material to become more and more random and disordered until it's returned to the Earth. Dust to dust.

...

Toning is an alteration of the chemical makeup and color of a coin's surface. It takes place naturally over time as the metal reacts with chemicals in its environment, typically to various sulfur-based compounds. Or it can be induced artificially, and more quickly. Natural toning takes place more quickly in a warmer and more humid environment.*

See entire article.  Note the significance of external environmental factors.

Coins are usually alloyed with other metals.  Even gold bullion coins are alloyed with copper, but for wear resistance, not corrosion resistance.  See: http://www.mygoldguide.in/why-gold/gold-purity-tips-difference-between-24k-22k-18k-gold  Note the difference in spelling of "karat" versus "carat."

See also, for example:

http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8088

Repeating my disclaimer: Please note that I am not a coin collector.  I'm mainly interested in the chemistry involved, which is why I'm curious as to exactly how they built those Olympic medals.

Terry, 230RN

 * Edited for correction of quote and bolding.