SESSION- 2019-20

THE ADITYA BIRLA PUBLIC SCHOOL, RENUSAGAR

PROJECT
REPORT
RUSTING OF IRON

Submitted By: | Yash Mishra XII-Sc

 Acknowledgment

I am very grateful to my teacher-cum-guide, Mr. A.K. Mishra,

Chemistry, Aditya Birla Public School, Renusagar for meticulously
guiding me through the period of development of this project. His timely
interventions, valuable suggestions, constructive criticism provided me
an opportunity to improve the quality of this work. His kindness and
graciousness have left incredible impressions on my mind and I have
learned the true meaning of “TEACHER”.
I am grateful to “Mrs. Bidya Chatterjee” Principal, Aditya Birla Public
School, Renusagar for allowing me to carry on this work and extending
all help and facilities. I am also grateful to my teacher whose love and
blessings made it possible to succeed in my work.

Yash Mishra
XII-Sc.
Aditya Birla Public School
 Declaration

I, Yash Mishra hereby declare that I have done this work. To the best of
my knowledge, it took me a lot of hard work on my part to successfully
complete this project entitled-

“RUSTING OF IRON”
I, hereby declare that my project is complete in all respect and this
project is a result of my steady scientific work.

Yash Mishra
XII-Sc.
Aditya Birla Public School
 Certificate
This is to certify that Yash Mishra has completed his project file on
“Rusting Of Iron” with great sincerity and obedience well before the
completion of tenure. I assure that he has not resorted to any unfair
means and has done the project with great sincerity.
This practical file may be considered as fulfillment for

ALL INDIA SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE

EXAMINATION

Conducted by

CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY

EXAMINATION:2019-20.

Hereby certify that he is well behaved and obedient student to the best
of my knowledge and belief. He bears good moral character.

Mr. A.K. Mishra Mrs. Bidya Chatterjee

Chemistry Department Principal
Aditya Birla Public School Aditya Birla Public School
ALL INDIA SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION

C.B.S.E

SESSION: 2019-20
SUBJECT: Chemistry
PROJECT: Rusting of Iron
SUBMITTED BY: Yash Mishra
CLASS: XII Science
ROLL NUMBER:
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
SCHOOL: Aditya Birla Public School
GUIDED BY: Mr. A.K. Mishra
 Introduction
Rust is formed when an article remains in contact with
oxygen and water containing dissolved carbon dioxide for
a few days. As a result of this, the iron material gets
corroded and is eaten away after some time. Hence it
needs protection. Various methods are known today to
protect the material from rusting, but the one chosen
depends largely upon the nature and the form of the
article. Some methods are:
1. PROTECTION BY PAINTS
Iron articles can be protected from rusting only by
forming a layer of suitable paints, enamel or liquors
on its surface. The paint chosen should be such that it
is not affected by air, water, and light.

2. PROTECTION BY OIL AND GREASE

Tools and various machinery parts in the industry can
be protected from rusting by oiling and greasing.
3. PROTECTION BY METAL COUPLING OF METALLING
The iron article is protected by coating its surface with a
sheet of metal that is more resistant to corrosion than iron.
For e.g. Tinning of iron articles, i.e. formation of a layer of
tin(Sn) over iron, as long as the layer of tin remains in
contact, iron is protected but, if the layer breaks away from
somewhere, the rusting process restarts and is facilitated
because iron is more electropositive than tin. So the
process is little modified and now the metal coupling is
used for the protection. It is based on the fact that when the
iron is coupled with a more electropositive metal like zinc, it
is protected from rusting even if it comes in contact with
oxygen and water containing dissolved carbon dioxide. It is
because zinc is more reactive and passes preferentially
into the solution as Zn-Fe and leaving iron unaffected.
Thus, the reaction does not occur and hence iron is
protected from rusting.
Mechanism OF RUSTING
It is an electrochemical process and will occur only if the metal is
at lower reduction potential than the metal at which hydrogen is
discharged so that electrons always flow from the metal that is
corroded to hydrogen ions.
The corrosion of metal in the presence of oxygen, moisture 7 ions
is an electrochemical reaction. Corrosion takes place because
one part of the metal object acts as a cathode. Incase of rusting of
iron, iron gets oxidized into ferrous ions at the site of the anode
while hydroxide ions of metal at the site of the cathode. Corrosion
is speeded up if a metal comes in contact with another metal
because an electrochemical cell is formed with moisture as the
electrolyte the more reactive metal corrodes very fast in such an
arrangement.
 EXPERIMENT
Aim
To study the effect of metal coupling on the process of rusting.

Apparatus Required
1.Two Petri Dishes
2.Beaker (250 ml)
3.Wire Gauge
4.Tripod Stand
5.Glass Rod
6.Spirit Lamp
7.Four Iron Nails
8.Bare Copper Wire Nails
9.Zinc Strip

Chemicals Required
Powdered AGAR-AGAR Potassium Ferricyanide Solution (0.1M)
Distilled Water Phenolphthalein Solution (0.1%)
Theory
Metal Coupling affects the rusting of iron. If the iron nail is coupled with
a more electropositive metal like zinc, magnesium or aluminum, rusting
is prevented but if on the other hand, it is coupled with less
electropositive metal like copper, the rusting process is facilitated.

Fe-Zn Couple
This occurs since Zn
Zn Zn is more
electropositive than
Fe and hence Zn is
more reactive.
It does not occur
Fe Fe since Fe is less
reactive than Zn and
no rusting.

Fe-Cu Couple
This occurs since Fe
Zn Zn is more reactive than
Zn and hence no
rusting.
It does not occur
Fe Fe since Cu is less
reactive than Fe.
PROCEDURE

Preparation of AGAR-AGAR Solution

Take 250 ml distilled water in a beaker and heat it for boiling.
Remove the burner and add 25gm of well powdered AGAR-AGAR to
it with constant stirring till it is disappeared completely in solution.
Then to this add 12 copies of 0.1 potassium ferrocyanide solution
followed by 0.1% phenolphthalein in solution with stirring and leave
the contents for slow cooling.
Now clean four iron nails by washing them with CCl4 till the bright
shining surface is obtained. Dry them in an oven at 1000 C. Then
place one nail in the Petri dish on one side and bend the second nail
by 900 and place it on one side of the same petri dish in such a way
that the two nails do not touch each other. Now wind a base clean
piece of copper wire tightly around the third nail and wrap the fourth
nail similarly with zinc strip. Place these two nails in the second petri
dish again in such a way that they do not touch each other. Now pour
warm AGAR-AGAR solution in each petri dish carefully and slowly so
as to cover the nails to a depth of 0.5cm. Cover the petri dish
carefully and leave them aside undisturbed for a day and note the
changes.
Observation
The jelly will set after some time and the petri dish covered by patches
and observe the colors of the patches so formed. In dish (containing
first and second nail) two patches are seen one around each nail, one
end of each formed patch appear to be blue showing the formation of
Fe because it forms blue precipitates of potassium ferrocyanide and the
other pink showing the formation of OH ions which give pink color with
phenolphthalein. The formation of the two colored patches shows that
rusting had occurred in nail 1&2. Similarly, two patches will be seen
(one around each nail) in a second petri dish. But in this case, the
patch around the third nail (wrapped by copper wire) will found to be
colored (blue and pink) while around the fourth nail is not affected.
Observation Table

Nail Colour of Rusting

Patch (Y/N)
Nail 1 Blue Yes
Nail 2 Pink Yes
Nail 3 Blue & Pink Yes
Nail 4 Colorless No

Result

Thus, we conclude that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd nails undergo rusting when kept
in AGAR-AGAR solution, while the 4th nail was metal coupled and
hence remained unaffected in the AGAR-AGAR solution.
Precautions

1. The nail kept in the same dish should not touch each other
and must lie at some distance.
2. Bright shining nails should only be used, if dirty, they should
be cleaned carefully a number of times.
3. Lukewarm or hot AGAR-AGAR solution must be mixed with a
solution of 0.1% phenolphthalein as they work as indicators to
detect the formation of Fe & OH respectively which are
necessary for the formation of rust.
4. The AGAR-AGAR solution must be mixed with a solution of
0.1% phenolphthalein as they work as indicators to detect the
formation of Fe &OH respectively which are necessary for the
formation of rust.
5. It gives information bout anodic and cathodic portions of nails.
The blue color is formed at the anode because of the formation
of Fe ions while pink color develops at the cathode due to the
formation of OH ions.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
For our project we have taken help from the following
resources:
1. Comprehensive Practical Book
2. www.wikipedia.com
3. www.Gettyimages.com
4. www.Khanacademy.com/rusting
5. NCERT Chemistry Textbook