VicS
Well-Known Member
It's a well known bit of elementary chemistry (remember silvering pennies by dipping them in silver nitrate solution?) It's a possible explanation but I'd find it difficult to explain high enough concentrations of copper in the water to produce the effect. The experiment used M/10, equal to 25g copper sulphate crystals per litre. However its one of the reasons I suggested that it is necessary to identify the black materialWhat about the copper coat or has there been a copper coating/sheathing near by? The only reason I mention this is that I found copper pipes black (in salty conditions) with a furry black deposit, so after a bit of google work I found there is a reaction between copper and zinc that produces a blackness on the zinc: http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/demosheets/9.11.html I cant comment if this link demonstrates a feasible mechanism, I have very little understanding of chemistry, perhaps this will help direct the investigation.