"Brad Naylor" wrote in message
...
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried
iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was
necessary
to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from
rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based
pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which
rested
on sixteen Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small
area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent
the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The
solution
was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations.
However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly
rust
to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys."
Few
landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than
iron
when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the
brass
indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come
right
off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally,
"Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."



"IF" this were true, Splain to me how the "Brass Monkey" prevented the Iron
Balls from rusting to each other!

AND how can the degradation of a material cause it to stick to the same
material?