A stand, a stand

It is interesting (though by no means uncommon) that the simple word "stand" can have so many meanings. In my case, however, the word "stand" meant "music stand" - I bought a stand today so I don't have to borrow someone else's all the time for rehearsals.

After setting it up it looks like this:

I think my first thought was: "Ooh. Shiny."

Most portable stands are rather fragile by nature, capable of being broken at the least application of pressure at the right (well, wrong) places. Actually, this one is, too, but somewhat less so, which is very convenient when I have to worry about lugging the timpani (oh yea - probably because the other timpanist quit despite having a successful audition, I made it into the orchestra). However:

The "Made in Taiwan" part isn't bothersome - after all, this stand is the cheapest in the store. The problem lies in the fact that it is "Zinc plated". Or, more plainly:

• E⁰ of Zn to Zn²⁺ (+ 2e^-) is 0.76 V > E⁰ of Fe to Fe²⁺ (+ 2e^-) = 0.41 V
  
• E⁰ of O₂ (+2H₂O + 4e^-) to (4)OH^- is 0.40 V
• So the overall reaction 2Zn + O₂ +2H₂O --> 2Zn²⁺ + 4OH^- --> 2Zn(OH)₂ has E⁰ = 0.76 + 0.40 = 1.16 V > 0.41 + 0.40 = 0.81 V > 0 V
  

In other words, the Zn coating is acting as a "sacrifical anode" to the metal (probably Fe) beneath (the proper term is to say that the Fe is galvanized, I believe). That means that my currently shiny new stand will develop blotches of ZnO and Zn(OH)₂ eventually, marring its current perfect appearance. *Sigh.*