"Nous écrivons des choses éternelles."
--Antoine de St Exupéry
Friday, November 03, 2006
Another Writer's Question
If your house caught fire and you have a box made of something that doesn't burn with a bunch of coins inside, would the coins melt?
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The key question is this:
Does the temperature of the inside of the box reach a high enough degree to melt the gold?
The melting point of gold depends on its purity. pure gold may melt around 1950 farenheit, but alloyed gold may be like 1550. Coins would very likely be alloyed.
A kiln might reach temperatures of 1500-2400. That's a machine designed to get very hot with a lot of insulation, but without actual fire. My guess is that the fire in a house would be comparable, and that the coins would be melted and destroyed, especially if they're in something that conducts heat well.
If you don't want them to melt you can put them somewhere taht might not get so hot, like near the outer wall.
Not too much is going to withstand that sort of heat. I think a ceramic box may be your best bet.
5 comments:
The key question is this:
Does the temperature of the inside of the box reach a high enough degree to melt the gold?
The melting point of gold depends on its purity. pure gold may melt around 1950 farenheit, but alloyed gold may be like 1550. Coins would very likely be alloyed.
A kiln might reach temperatures of 1500-2400. That's a machine designed to get very hot with a lot of insulation, but without actual fire. My guess is that the fire in a house would be comparable, and that the coins would be melted and destroyed, especially if they're in something that conducts heat well.
If you don't want them to melt you can put them somewhere taht might not get so hot, like near the outer wall.
Not too much is going to withstand that sort of heat. I think a ceramic box may be your best bet.
--Tim
Thanks Tim,
Yeah, actually I was thinking of a stone box. And I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I won't but the coins in the house at all.
Also, as a note, if you click the "other" bubble under identity, I'll bet you can put in a name and not be anonymous.
Yup... other lets you have a name so I recommend it if people would like to bypass the annoying "anonymous says..."
Ah cool!
Keep in mind that a stone box might crack. Of course, ceramic probably could too.
(My jade empire is not related to Cherie's jade empire)
Yeah, like I said, I may just put the coins somewhere else.
My Jade Empire is better than your Jade Empire.
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