This is to certify that this “Chemistry Investigatory

Project” on the topic “Study of Rusting of Iron” has

been successfully completed by Amlan Amrutansu of
class XII (Group-2) under the guidance of Ms. Sucheta
Prabhu in particular fulfilment of the curriculum of Central
Board of Secondary Education {CBSE} leading to
the award of annual examination of the year 2022-23.

Teacher in Charge Principal

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No creation in this world is a solo effort. Neither this project.
It would not have been possible without the kind support and
help of many individuals and organizations. I take this
00opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them. I am
highly indebted to my Teacher In charge Ms. Sucheta
Prabhu for providing me an opportunity to do the project
under her guidance. Her support and suggestions proved
valuable in enabling the successful completion of this project.
My sincere thanks to my parents, friends and all those who
have been instrumental in the successful completion of the
project.

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 Contents
1. Certificate

2. Acknowledgement

3. Introduction

4. Objective of the Project

5. Methods of Prevention of Corrosion

and Rusting

6. EXPERIMENT

A. Requirements

B. procedure

C. observations

7. Conclusion

8. Bibliography

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 Introduction
Metals and alloys undergo rusting and corrosion. The process
by which some metals when exposed to atmospheric conditions
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 its surface
rough.

Chemically, rust is a hydrated ferric oxide (Fe2O3.nH2O)

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

hydroxyl ions interact to form rust, i.e., hydrated ferric oxide.

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2Fe2+ + H2O + (O) ⎯→ 2Fe3+ + 2OH–

2Fe3+ + 6OH– ⎯→ Fe2O3.3H2O or 2Fe(OH)3

(Rust)

If supply of oxygen is limited the corrosion product may be

black anhydrous magnetite, Fe3O4.

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 OBJECTIVE OF PROJECT

In this project the aim is to investigate effect of metal coupling

on the rusting of iron. Metal coupling affects the rusting of iron.
If the iron nail is coupled with a more electro-positive metal
like zinc, magnesium or aluminium rusting is prevented but if
on the other hand, it is coupled with less electro-positive metal
like copper, the rusting is facilitated.

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 Methods of Prevention of Corrosion and Rusting

Some of the methods used to prevent corrosion

and rusting are:

1. Barrier Protection: In this method, a barrier film is introduced

between iron surface and atmospheric air. The film is obtained by

painting, varnishing, etc.

2. Galvanization: The metallic iron is covered by a layer of more

active metal such as zinc. The active metal loses electrons in

preference to iron.

Zn ⎯→ Zn2+ + 2e–

Thus, protecting iron from rusting and corrosion.

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 EXPERIMENT
REQUIREMENTS:

1. Two Petri dishes

2. Four test tubes
3. Four iron nails
4. Beaker
5. Sand paper
6. Wire gauge
7. Gelatine
8. Copper, Zinc and magnesium strips
9. Phenolphthalein
10. Potassium ferricyanide solution

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PROCEDURE

1. Clean the surface of iron nails with the help of sand paper.
Wash them with carbon tetrachloride and dry on filter paper.

2. 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 three and a fourth nail in Petri dishes so that
they are not in contact with each other.

3. Preparation of agar-agar solution. Heat about 3 g of agar-

agar in 100 ml of water taken in a beaker until solution becomes
clear. Add about 1 ml of 0.1 M potassium ferricyanide solution,
1 ml of phenolphthalein solution and stir well the contents.

4. 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.

5. Keep the covered Petri Dishes undisturbed for one day or so.

6. The liquid sets to a gel on cooling. Two types of patches are

observed around the rusted nail, one is blue and the other pink.
Blue patch is due to the reaction between ferrous ions and
potassium ferricyanide to form potassium ferroferricyanide,

KFe[Fe(CN)6] whereas pink patch is due to the formation of

hydroxyl ions which turns colourless phenolphthalein to pink.

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 OBSERVATIONS:
Following Observations were obtained from the
above experiment:
S. No. Metal Pair Colour of Nail rusts or
Patch Not
1. Iron-Zinc Pink No
2. Iron-Copper Blue Yes
3. Iron-Magnesium Pink No
4. Iron-Nail Blue yes

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 CONCLUSION
It may be concluded that coupling of iron with more
electropositive metal such as zinc and magnesium resists
corrosion and rusting of iron. Coupling of iron with less
electropositive metal such as copper increases rusting.

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 Bibliography
1. wikipedia.org
2. quora.com
3. deepl.com
4. eksisozluk.com
5. yelp.com
6. sciencedirect.com
7. wikimedia.org
8. wiktionary.org
9. britannica.com
10.dictionary.cambridge.org

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