What will happen if I put a mask in saltwater for a few months?

LEGO BIONICLE
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My friend and I were chatting today about bionicle stuff, and somehow we got to discussing the Mask of Time and it turning orange after exposure to protodermis. Then I started wondering what would happen if I tossed an old mask in seawater for a while.

Does anyone know if Lego pieces react with saltwater? Does anyone wanna guess what will happen? I thought I’d run it as a little home science experiment to see if it gets corroded at all or what not. I picked out one of my three Matau masks because a) losing one wouldn’t matter to me. 2) The plastic it’s made out of is the softer and less resilient kind that seems more likely to be affected.

Creating the water should be easy, I’d just have to do a simple calculation using the salt concentration of ocean water and the volume of water I would have it submerged in. Then I’d take that amount of salt, mix it in with some water, and put in the mask.

So unless it’s already been tried, I’ll go ahead with it and post a weekly update picture of the mask.

Edit: I live near the coast, would it be more potent if I got some water directly from the ocean?

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Interesting. I’ll have to keep watch on this.

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If it changes couler that’ll be awesome!

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More than likely nothing.
It may warp a bit, but it won’t start rusting or nothing.

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depends on the ocean you live near.

I don’t expect much to happen, but I’d like to see you do it in the name of SCIENCE!

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Atlantic Ocean. Though really, I don’t think it would make much of a difference so I’ll probably just make some myself.

Oh, and should I use tap water or distilled? I don’t know if tap will lessen or increase any possible effects on the plastic.

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Tap would probably increase any effects. This should be interesting to see.

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Actually according to Google, the Atlantic is the saltiest ocean. But yeah, it’d probably be easier to make your own solution.

Depends on where your water comes from. If your water comes from a plant, I’d suggest distilled water. If you have a well, tap water should be fine.

of course there is also the possibility that chemicals could aid in the destruction of the mask, so its your call. :slight_smile:

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It’s definitely from a plant. I think that since it’s got bleach, fluorine, and other nasty chemical cocktails thrown in (yeesh, and I drink this stuff) it might help do funky stuff to the mask.

We should give the mask a special name. Kanohi GLaDOS, Mask of For Science?

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gonna call in @BioRaiders532 our resident smart guy for a scientific evaluation of this.

though it most likely won’t do anything, at all. it’s water and plastic, they normally don’t react much without some heat.

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YES. YES. And more YES! Don’t forget to take pictures along the way! :smile:

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What if I upped the salt concentration, or added in other chemicals? It would be interesting to try putting a different mask, say a Rau or Huna, in bleach.

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what kind of container is bleach stored in?

plastic.

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Bleach might do it. Do you have any types of acid perchance? I’m fairly sure that could cause some science. :stuck_out_tongue:

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this has gone from an experiment about water to “let’s pour acid on a mask!”

why don’t we just pour petrol on it and light it on fire at this point? it will have about the same effect, just with charring.

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shhhhhhh Yink don’t ruin the fun :stuck_out_tongue:

though it would be interesting to see the effects of a lower concentrated acid. (e.g. Mix Hydrogen Peroxide with water and soak the mask in it)

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Doesn’t mean though that it won’t maybe cause some discoloration.

I still want to try the experiment on the mask, and I don’t want to go pouring chemicals on it willy nilly, cuz… that can get seriously dangerous, and it’s not really the kind of experiment I’m going for.

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it may, MAY, make it whiter, and that’s about it, instant sun damage.

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Interestingly enough, that actually that improves the quality of the pieces.

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…

…I guess you can tell I didn’t do too well in Chemistry huh. :laughing:

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