Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tyler Boley" 
<tyler@t...> wrote:

> > But we don't even know if it's "acid"...
> snip...
> > It's also pure speculation WHAT causes the discoloration....
> 
> actually it's not. If you do some searches on this and other lists
> you'll find a lot of it has been pretty nailed down.
> Tyler

I've done lots of searches and what I've seen is MOSTLY the same kind 
of speculation we've seen in this thread.  Someone observes that a 
print left near newspaper changes color; someone else notes that 
newsprint is not low acid, and therefore concludes that the "acid" in 
the newsprint changed the color of the inkjet print.    The actual 
chemical process, including the ion-transport mechanism and what 
compounds are created that have the colors they do - green, orange, 
or whatever, are usually left as a proof for the student.

The fact is that reports of mysterious and often rapid changes in 
color of inkjet prints, or often just the paper itself, are LEGION.  
I see these reports in every forum where inkjet printing is 
discussed.  And 99% of the time there's no obvious cause.  And so, 
like anything else when there's no obvious cause, people clutch at 
straws such as mysterious emanations from wood, newspapers, sealing 
tape, etc.   The fact that the people who do this don't remember 
enough high-school chemistry to descibe how a buffer works, 
notwithstanding.  njeither the fact that plenty of inkjet prints ARE 
left in wooden boxes and drawers, or cardboard envelopes with no 
problems

I live in the Boston area and right now we have perfectly 
intelligent, educated people - doctors, engineers, scientists - 
trying to account for the Red Sox' recent performance by invoking 
full moons, eclipses, dredged-up pianos, blood-sacrifices by 
teenagers living in Babe Ruth's old house, and other signs, portents, 
and rites.   But let's not confuse superstition with understanding.