Why is Rusting an Undesirable Phenomenon?

Rusting causes iron to become flaky and weak, degrading its strength, appearance and permeability.
Rusted iron does not hold the desirable properties of iron. The rusting of iron can lead to damage to
automobiles, railings, grills, and many other iron structures.
The collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967 and the Mianus River bridge in 1983 is attributed to the
corrosion of the steel/iron components of the bridge. Many buildings made up of reinforced concrete also
undergo structural failures over long periods of time due to rusting.
Rusted iron can be a breeding ground for bacteria that cause tetanus. Cuts from these objects that pierce
the skin can be dangerous.
Since rusting occurs at an accelerated rate in humid conditions, the insides of water pipes and tanks are
susceptible to it. This causes the pipes to carry brown or black water containing an unsafe amount of iron
oxides.

Factors that Affect the Rusting of Iron

Many factors speed up the rusting of iron, such as the moisture content in the environment and the pH of
the surrounding area. Some of these factors are listed below.

 Moisture: The corrosion of iron is limited to the availability of water in the environment.
Exposure to rains is the most common reason for rusting.
 Acid: if the pH of the environment surrounding the metal is low, the rusting process is quickened.
The rusting of iron speeds up when it is exposed to acid rains. Higher pH inhibits the corrosion of
iron.
 Salt: Iron tends to rust faster in the sea, due to the presence of various salts. Saltwater contains
many ions that speed up the rusting process via electrochemical reactions.
 Impurity: Pure iron tends to rust more slowly when compared to iron containing a mixture of
metals.
The size of the iron object can also affect the speed of the rusting process. For example, a large iron
object is likely to have small deficiencies as a result of the smelting process. These deficiencies are a
platform for attacks on the metal from the environment.

There are several types of corrosion, including wet corrosion and dry
corrosion.

Dry corrosion occurs when there is no water or moisture to aid the corrosion, and the metal oxidises with
the atmosphere alone.
Wet corrosion of metals occurs through electron transfer, involving two processes, oxidation and
reduction. In oxidation, the metal atoms lose electrons. The surrounding environment then gains the
electrons in reduction. The metal, where electrons are lost, is called the anode. The other metal, liquid or
gas which gains the electrons is called the cathode.
 
Corrosive Environments
As mentioned previously, most corrosion is the formation of metal oxides. This means that any metal
(with the exception of gold) will oxidise in any environment that contains oxygen.
 
Air contains, on average, 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, and 1% argon. It can also contain water vapour,
ozone, and carbon dioxide.
Water is very commonly aerated which again means there is oxygen for reaction with metals.
There are many factors that dictate how corrosive an environment is. One is the amount of oxygen
available to form corrosion products or the presence of water or moisture which greatly accelerate the rate
of corrosion. Another is the presence of other elements, ions and compounds that can limit or enhance
corrosion rates. Therefore corrosion rates are often considered in different atmospheres: industrial, rural
and marine. Each of these environments will contain different amounts of oxygen and other “pollutants”
like ozone, salt, dusts, sulphur dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide.

Dry corrosion or oxidation occurs when oxygen in the air reacts with metal without the presence of a
liquid.
Typically, dry corrosion is not as detrimental as wet corrosion, but it is very sensitive to temperature. If
you hold a piece of clean iron in a flame, you will soon see the formation of an oxide layer!

How to prevent rusting

1. Paint or grease

This prevents water or oxygen reaching the iron. However, this is only a temporary step
since paint can flake off and grease can be rubbed off quite easily. Bikes are often painted of
greased to prevent rust, since this is the cheapest method of prevention.

2. Plastic

Plastic is cheap and acts as a cover for the iron, for instance, it stops water or oxygen reaching
the metal surface. Garden chairs are often made from iron coated in plastic.

3. Galvanising

This involves the iron been covered, usually in the form of a paint, by zinc. Since zinc is more
reactive than iron, air and water react with the zinc rather than the iron. Outside structures,
such as bridges are often galvanised.

4. Chromium plating

Works for the same reason as galvanising. Chromium is a more reactive metal than iron. Car
bumpers are often chrome-plated.

Both chromium plating and galvanising are examples of sacrificial protection. Zinc and
chromium are sacrificed for the iron.
 EXPERIMENTS

You Will Need:

 6 Test tubes or plastic cups

 6 Steel nails (avoid galvanised ones)
 Coke
 Water
  Lemon juice
 Vinegar
 Cooking oil.
 Optional: Saltwater, detergent.
 Adult supervision (if child)

Procedure:

1. Set up the 6 test tubes or cups as shown in the picture above.

2. Take a photo and write down your observations of each nail at the start of the experiment.
Optional: Weigh each nail with an accurate scale at the start and the end of the experiment.
Optional: Try different nails in the same liquid… do they rust differently?
3. Over the coming days take recording of each nail’s condition.
– Which nail showed rust first?
– If you were able to weigh each nail at the end of the experiment, was there any difference
between the nails? Why?
4. This setup is just one way of running this classic rust experiment. You could also try the
following experiment conditions too:
– nail completely submerged in water vs. half-submerged.
– nail completely submerged in water with a layer of oil over the top of it.
– nail in salt water vs. nail in pure salt

Rusting is the oxidation of metal, whereby the oxygen in the environment combines with the metal to
form a new compound called a metal oxide. In the case of iron rusting, the new compound is called
iron oxide… also known as rust!

This science experiment is all about controlling variables to explore which material will rust an iron
nail first.