Salvage, conservation and restoration of objects from wrecks requires careful planning and understanding of the behaviour of chemicals
Students learn to:
- explain that artefacts from long submerged wrecks will be saturated with dissolved chlorides and sulfates
- describe the processes that occur when a saturated solution evaporates and relate this to the potential damage to drying artefacts
- identify the use of electrolysis as a means of removing salt
- identify the use of electrolysis as a means of cleaning and stabilizing iron, copper and lead artefacts
- discuss the range of chemical procedures which can be used to clean, preserve and stabilize artefacts from wrecks and, where possible, provide an example of the use of each procedure
Extract from Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (Amended October 2002). © 2009, Board of Studies NSW.