Say you had a ring and you buried it a few feet below the ground. Would it stay a ring, or would it just break back down into the lump of metal it was before it was mined.
In: Chemistry
It depends on the degree to which the metal oxidizes and the degree of exposure to oxygen, and to some extent exposure to certain kinds of bacteria that can eat metal.
For example, iron is often pointed to as quickly degrading under oxygen exposure, and you’ve probably seen a piece of rusty metal nearly falling apart. However, gold is the counter example since it does not rapidly oxidize and for all intents and purposes will stay in tact indefinitely.
All this is caveated by the fact that time will ultimately win against all metals. The time-scales are massive, but “eventually” the metal will degrade.
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