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Does anyone know how to test if something is brass?

its any alloy, so unless you know the ratio of Cu to Sn, then dunno.. density would be between the value of Sn's and Cu's density
 
Well, I'd guess it'd be about 40%, but that's useless as there's no way I'm gonna imerse it in water, so there is no practicle way to test for volume.
 
see how much water it displaces - this is its volume.
Weigh it on a scale - this is its mass.

Look up the density of copper, steel, tin, aluminum (the 4 suspects that are commonly used for pipes).

Density = Mass/volume

Done.
 
Originally posted by: Tick
Yes, but I'm not going to imerse it in water, and it's not a pipe.
Click to expand...

Fine, then take the outer dimensions - its not tough to calculate volume...

that is unless you cant use a ruler...

Edit:

If for some reason you cant get the volume (odd shape) then you have to be able to weigh it. With this, and finding the densities of the above metals on the internet, you can calculate a theoretical volume. If the theoretical volume falls in between that of copper and tin or zink, then you have brass.
 
dissolve it in random acids and look up what acids dissolve what elements of brass. I think the brass in instruments is usually mostly copper and zinc, don't know about pipes
 
Buy some brass polish and see if it polishs it? Honestly if it's not brass it's most likely Iron so see if it's ferous.
 
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