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Message:: [QUOTE="differential, post: 8144110, member: 120104"]I hesitate to offer something here, as I'm not a  chemist. But perhaps there is a way to explain Doug's findings in view of the chemical information offered above? All solids have vapor pressure, so that means the alloy in the coin is going to have a vapor pressure all its own. Granted, copper must be melted to an extremely high temperature and become a liquid before it has a significant vapor pressure. In Doug's experiment, everything is kept in the Tupperware container for six months. In an enclosed space for six months, would there be enough vapor pressure from the coins themselves (or enough time--are the table values for vapor pressure made from compounds kept sealed for six months?) to interact with the dioctyl phthalate to form the "crud" on the surface of the coin? This does not negate the fact that there can be direct leakage of a liquid from the plastic itself. So maybe, depending on conditions, the vapor pressures themselves can combine to form the crud. This seems to be what Doug has found in his experiment of keeping everything sealed and apart for six months. I know this is probably an out-of-left-field question, and irrelevant, but I just thought I would ask it. And return to my burrow till Ground Hog's Day.....[/QUOTE]