CHEMISTRY PROJECT:

Metal
Coupling effect
on Rusting of
Iron

DAKSH GUDWANI
Class: XII D
CBSE Roll No: 14625560
 INDEX:
S.No Contents Page No.
1 Certificate 3
2 Acknowledgement 4
3 Introduction 5
4 Aim 7
5 Apparatus and Chemicals 7
6 Theory 7
7 Procedure 8
8 Observation 9
9 Result 9
10 Conclusion 9
11 Bibliography 10
 CERTIFICATE
This to certify that DAKSH GUDWANI of Class XII D
SCIENCE Roll no (14) has satisfactorily carried out the
chemistry project entitled
“Metal Coupling Effect on Rusting of Iron” as prescribed in
the Curriculum for session 2021-22. All the works related to
the thesis was done by the candidate and the approach towards
the subject has been sincere and scientific.

Chahat Chhabra
(Chemistry faculty)
Green Fields School,
Safdarjung Enclave,
New Delhi - 110029
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to sincerely and profusely thank our principal
Mrs. Mini Khanna for providing the facilities to bring out our
innovation and spirit of enquiry through this project.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to my chemistry
teacher CHAHAT CHABBRA (PGT Chemistry) for her able
guidance and support.

Daksh Gudwani,
XII-D, Roll No (14)
 INTRODUCTION:

Metals and alloys undergo rusting and corrosion. The process by which
some metals when exposed to atmospheric condition i.e., moist air,
carbon dioxide form undesirable compounds on the surface is known
as corrosion. The compounds formed are usually oxides.
Rusting is also a type of corrosion but the term is restricted to iron or
products made from it. Iron is easily prone to rusting making it surface
rough. Chemically, rust is a hydrated ferric oxide.
Rust is formed by the redox reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence
of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrated iron (III) oxides
Fe2O3.nH2O and iron (III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO (OH), Fe (OH) 3).
Rust is another name for iron oxide, which occurs when iron or an
alloy that contains iron, like steel, is exposed to oxygen and moisture
for a long period of time. Over time, the oxygen combines with the
metal at an atomic level, forming a new compound called an oxide and
weakening the bonds of the metals itself.
Rusting may be explained by an electrochemical mechanism. In the
presence of moist air containing dissolved oxygen or carbon dioxide,
the commercial iron behaves as if composed of small electrical cells.
At anode of cell, iron passes into solution as ferrous ions.

Fe → Fe2+ + 2e-
The electrons from the above reaction move towards the cathode and
form hydroxyl ions
 H2O + (O) + 2e- → 2OH-
Under the influence of dissolved oxygen, the ferrous ions and
hydroxide ions interact to form rust, i.e., hydrated ferric oxide.
2Fe2+ + H2O + (O)2 → 2Fe3+ + 2OH-

2Fe3+ + 6OH- → Fe2O3.3H2O or 2Fe (OH) (Rust)

If supply of oxygen is limited the corrosion product may be black
anhydrous magnetite, Fe3
Aim:
To study the effect of metal coupling on rusting of iron.

Apparatus and Chemicals:

 Two petridishes,  Four test-tubes,  Four iron nails,  Beaker, 

Sand paper , Wire gauge , Gelatin , Copper, Zinc and Magnesium

strips  Potassium ferricyanide solution  Phenolphthalein

Theory:

 Coupling reaction:
A coupling reaction in organic chemistry is a general term for a
variety of reactions where two fragments are coupled with an aid of
metal catalyst. In one important reaction type a main group
organometallic compound of the type RM (R= organic fragment,
M= main group centre) reacts with an organic halide of the type R’X
with formation of a new carbon-carbon bond in the product RR’.

 Catalysts involved in metal coupling reaction:

The most common catalyst is palladium, but an increasing
number of reactions use nickel. Other catalysts include
copper, platinum, iron, cobalt, and amines.

Procedure:
• Clean the surface of iron nails with the help of sand paper. Wash
them with carbon tetrachloride and dry on filter paper.
• Wind a clean zinc strip around one nail, a clean copper wire around
the second and clean magnesium strip around the third nail. Put all
these third and a fourth nail in petri dishes so that they are not in
contact with each other.
• Preparation of agar agar solution:
Heat about 3gm of agar agar in 100ml of water taken in a beaker
until solution becomes clear. Add about 1ml of 0.1M potassium
ferri-cyanide solution, 1ml of phenol-phthalein solution and stir well
the contents.
• Fill the Petri Dishes with hot agar agar solution in such a way that
only lower half of the nails are covered with the liquids.
• Keep the covered Petri Dishes undisturbed for one day or so.
• The liquid sets to a gel on cooling. Two types of patches are
observed around the rusted nail, one is blue and the other is pink.
Blue patch is due to the reaction between ferrous ions and potassium
ferricyanide, to form potassium Ferro-ferricyanide, KFe [Fe (CN) 6]
whereas pink patch is due to the formation of hydroxyl ions which
turns colorless phenolphthalein to pink.

Observations:
S No. Metal pair Color of the Nail rusts or not
patch
1. Iron-zinc Pink No
 2. Iron-magnesium Pink No

3. Iron-copper Blue Yes

4. Iron -nail Blue Yes
Result:
It is clear from the observations that coupling of iron with
more electropositive metal such as zinc and magnesium resists
corrosion and rusting of iron.

Conclusions:
Coupling of iron with less electropositive metal such as copper
increases rusting.

Bibliography:

• NCERT Chemistry – Class XII

• Chemistry LAB Manual – Class XII
• Google
• Wikipedia
• ICBSE
• https://www.slideshare.net/KrishnaYadav83/study-of-the-effect-of-
metal-coupling-on-the-rusting-of-iron#:~:text=Metal%20coupling
%20affects%20the%20rusting,copper%2C%20the%20rusting%20is
%20facilitated.
• https://www.icbse.com/projects/chemistry-project-on-metal-
coupling-in-rusting-of-iron-v4x
• file:///C:/Users/daksh/Desktop/icbse.com-6543.pdf