CHEMISTRY PROJECT

ON
RUSTING OF IRON

Name: Aditi Gupta

Class: XII E
Roll no: 2017237

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

MECHANISM OF RUSTING

EXPERIMENT

CORROSION CONSEQUENCES

PREVENTION OF CORROSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the people who
have supported me throughout my project. I am very grateful to my
teachers
Mrs. Monika Wadhwa
Mrs. Meena Makkad
for their continuous support for this project.
Special thanks of mine to my classmates who helped me in
completing the project and they exchanged their interesting ideas,
thoughts and made this project easy.
I wish to thank my parents and brother for their support and
interest which inspired me and encouraged me to go on my own
way to complete my project.

INTRODUCTION
Rust is composed of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is
applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and water in
the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are
distinguishable visually and by spectroscopy, and form under
different circumstances. Rust consists of hydrated iron (iii) oxides
[Fe2O3.nH2O] and iron (iii) oxide-hydroxide [FeO(OH).Fe(OH)3].
Given sufficient time, water, and oxygen; any iron mass will
eventually convert entire into rust and disintegrate. Surface rust is
flaky and friable, and provides no protection to the underling iron,
unlike the formation of patina on copper surfaces. Rusting is the
common term for the corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel.
Many other metals undergo equivalent corrosion, but the resulting
irons are not commonly called rust.

MECHANISM OF
RUSTING
1. Water on the metal surface and CO2 & O2 from the air.
H2O + CO2 H2CO3
H2CO3 2H+ + CO32H2O H+ + OH2. Fe in contact with dissolved CO2 and O2 undergoes
oxidation.
Fe Fe2+ + 2e3.Electrons lost by Fe are taken up by H+.
H + + e- H
4H + O2 2H2O
4.On multiplying the first equation by 4 and add to the
second.
O2 + 4H+ 2H2O
5.The dissolved O2 can take electrons directly also.
O2 + 2H2O + 4e- 4OH2Fe(s) + O2(g) + 4H+ 2Fe2+(aq) + 2H2O

6. Fe2+ reacts with dissolved O2 and water.

4Fe2+ + O2 + 4H2O 2Fe2O3 + 8H+
Fe2O3 + xH2O Fe2O3.xH2O

EXPERIMENT
Subject

To study the mechanism of rusting of iron.

Requirements

Nail, test tube, corks, water, NaCl, Vaseline,

benzene and cotton.

Procedure

Clean the iron nails with benzene and dry them

properly.
TEST
TUBE
a.

CONDITIONS

RESULT

Boiled water + oil No rust. Boiled water

layer
has no O2 entering.

b.

Salt water

c.

Air

d.

Air + NaCl

Severe rust. Salt

water is an electrolyte
which conducts ions,
speeding up rusting.
Rust. Air and moisture
cause normal rusting.
No rust. NaCl dries
out the air.

Results

Therefore we can see that the three conditions

required for rust to occur are:
Oxygen
Water
Electrolyte (to allow conduction to take
place)

CORROSION
CONSEQUENCES
Corrosion has many serious economic,
health, safety and technological,
consequences to our society.

Economic effects
For most industrial nations, the average cost of dealing with corrosion is
between 3.4% and 4.5% of their GDP. Repairs and replacement parts
needed due to rust and corrosion is costly. Rust can deem parts unusable in
the blink of an eye, but can be avoided so simply with rust
prevention treatments.

Health effects
Recent years have seen an increasing use of metal prosthetic devices in the
body, such as pins, plates, hip joints, pacemakers, and other implants. New
alloys and better techniques of implantation have been developed, but
corrosion continues to create problems. Examples include failures through
broken connections in pacemakers, inflammation caused by corrosion
products in the tissue around implants, and fracture of weight-bearing
prosthetic devices.

Safety effects
An even more significant problem is corrosion of structures, which can
result in severe injuries or even loss of life. Safety is compromised by
corrosion contributing to failures of bridges, aircraft, automobiles, gas

pipelines etc., the whole complex of metal structures and devices that make
up the modern world.

Technological effects
The economic consequences of corrosion affect technology. A great deal of
the development of new technology is held back by corrosion problems
because materials are required to withstand, in many cases simultaneously,
higher temperatures, higher pressures, and more highly corrosive
environments. Corrosion problems that are less difficult to solve affect
solar energy systems, which require alloys to withstand hot circulating heat
transfer fluids for long periods of time, and geothermal systems, which
require materials to withstand highly concentrated solutions of corrosive
salts at high temperatures and pressures. Another example, the drilling for
oil in the sea and on land, involves overcoming such corrosion problems as
sulfide stress corrosion, microbiological corrosion, and the vast array of
difficulties involved in working in the highly corrosive marine
environment. In many of these instances, corrosion is a limiting factor
preventing the development of economically or even technologically
workable systems.

PREVENTION OF
CORROSION
Corrosion can be prevented with the help of some products and
techniques as follows:

Barrier protection
The metal surfaces are not allowed to come in contact with moisture,
oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
i.
ii.
iii.

Coating the metal surface with paint.

Applying oil or grease.
Electroplating with non-corroding metals like Ni, Al, Zn, etc.

Sacrificial protection
The process involves covering the surface with a more electropositive
metal than Fe. The more electropositive metal loses electrons and as long
as this coating is present, Fe is protected.
Example- Galvanization (covering with zinc).

Electrical (cathode) protection

The iron object is connected to a more active metal either directly or
through a wire. Fe acts as a cathode. The more reactive metal is the anode.
It loses its electrons and gradually disappears.
Example- Fe can be connected to Mg, Zn, or Al that are called the
sacrificial anodes, used for protecting underground pipes from rusting.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.google.co.in
www.enchantinglearning.com/subjec
www.wikipedia.org
www.corrosion-doctors.org