Sodium salts are quite soluble versus iron, you know. You've had ion
replacement going on as well as reduction.

"Dan White" wrote in message
et...

Yes, for sure that could be it. I was hoping not to relearn every
electronegativity etc etc.

It is interesting, though, to note that in my experiment the vinegar/salt
solution was pale orange, while the vinegar only was deep red. I'm
interested to see how it ends up in your test. There is *definitely*
something different going on in each case, and it would be interesting to
know what that is. I wonder if the vinegar only is dissolving more Fe
metal, and is somehow inhibited by the salt. Maybe this needs to be done
in
the absence of air, as the other poster suggested. Maybe the results
would
be different.