On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:50:44 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 6/13/2012 11:31 PM, Martin Eastburn wrote:
Not marked on the rods ?

http://compare.ebay.com/like/3307387...pes&va r=sbar


Both look the same. Ugh.

Likely has to do with at what temp does one change magnetism.
Something simple like that. Or melting temp.

Get specifics of each rod and compare to spot a difference.
Test for difference.
...

There are differences in ductility and hardness owing to the differing
compositions but I doubt there's any way w/o an actual test rig to
determine the one over another at least w/o known samples for
comparison, not just a given single unknown sample.

Nickel's specific gravity is about 10% great than iron's; enough so
it'd be relatively easy to tell the difference between 99% Ni and a
55/45 alloy of Ni/Fe. But, copper's SG is very close to nickel, so I
think Monel (cupro-nickel) rod would be hard to dstiguish from 99% Ni
by SG alone. Weathered Monel can also have a grayish surface.

--
Ned Simmons