I came across a question that was about silver plating (of steel), but I couldn't help but wonder why the sequence was illustrated as this:
step 1 A coating of copper is applied to the object.
step 2 A coating of nickel is applied to the object.
step 3 The coating of silver is applied to the object.
Why are these initial coats of copper and nickel required, and why this seemingly random sequence (since nickel is in between but has the highest reactivity)?