Question

Question 12

It was Paheli's birthday. Her grandmother gave her two gifts made up of metals, one old dull silver spoon and a pair of lustrous gold ear-rings she was surprised to see the difference in the appearance of the two metals. Can you explain the reason for this difference ?

Answer 1

Gold metal does not lose its shine or lustre when exposed to the atmosphere, so gold ornaments look new even after several years of use. Actually, gold metal is highly unreactive metal which remains unaffected by air, water and other gases in the atmosphere where as silver metal on long exposure to moist air loses its shine and becomes dull. That's why old silver spoon had dull appearance.