Rusting iron nails. Image credit corrosionist.com
ZIMSEC O Level Combined Science Notes: Experiment: Investigating the corrosion of plated of plated iron
Aim: To investigate the corrosion of iron
Materials: ferroxyl indicator (turns blue when iron rusts), iron nails, sand paper, magnesium ribbon, zinc, copper, five test tubes, paint
Method
- Place ferroxyl indicator to a depth of about 5cm in five test tubes
- Clean the nails with sand paper
- Place an iron nail in one of the test tubes
- Wrap a small piece of magnesium closely around the top of a clean nail and place it in another test tube
- Repeat with two more nails wrapping them with zinc and copper instead
- Paint one nail with nail vanish or paint before dipping them into the solution
- Observe the results
Observation and results
- The nail in step 3 and the one wrapped in copper rusts and the ferroxyl indicator turns blue to indicate rusting
- Zinc and Magnesium protect the iron nail from rusting via sacrificial corrosion even when only part of the nail is wrapped
- The unwrapped nail and the one wrapped in copper are corroded
To access more topics go to the Combined Science Notes page.
