The piece examines whether the fictional pirate beverage grog from Monkey Island could chemically dissolve a metal tankard as quickly as shown in the game. The author treats the game observation as an inverse problem: timing the in-game puzzle gives a characteristic perforation time of about 35 seconds, the mug is identified as a pewter tankard and modelled as pure tin with a nominal wall thickness of 2 mm, and the published list of grog ingredients (kerosene, propylene glycol, sweeteners, sulfuric acid, rum, acetone, red dye No. 2, SCUMM, axle grease, battery acid, pepperoni) is surveyed for corrosion relevance. A qualitative assessment of mixture properties predicts phase separation, strong odors, possible flammability, and complex acid-organic chemistry; none of the listed organics explains the game’s intense green color.
The analysis reduces the scenario to acid-only dissolution under an idealised, diffusion-controlled limit, using the stoichiometric reaction Sn + 2H+ → Sn2+ + H2 and treating the metal surface as a perfect proton sink. Sulfuric acid (including battery acid) is identified as the primary candidate able to supply protons for tin corrosion; other ingredients are largely inert or would impede contact. The model deliberately neglects hydrogen-evolution kinetics and surface passivation to maximise proton-limited dissolution, and proceeds to calculate the proton flux and concentration requirements that would be necessary to perforate the tankard in the observed time.
Summary generated by AI from the linked article. hn.today is not affiliated with Hacker News or Y Combinator.
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