Julia Gillespie
Corrosion of Iron Experiment
Julia Gillespie, Caitlin Beckett, Mikayla Bradley, Allana Riley
Period 3
Introduction:
The corrosion of iron is the oxidation and reduction reactions of iron being deteriorated by an
oxidizing agent. Most of the time the agent is oxygen dissolved in water and this causes the iron
to rust. The two half reactions are Fe oxidized to be Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ ions, while the second half
reaction is oxygen reacting with water to form OH- ions. A sacrificial metal works by becoming
more reactive than the iron, which makes this sacrificial metal corrode instead of the iron in the
reaction. The experiment is setup to have two indicators that show signals of if iron is released or
not and also is set up to follow the trends of the activity series with more reactive metals
wrapped around iron.
Pre-Lab Questions:
1. What type of reaction is the rusting of iron? Iron rusting is a double replacement
reaction
2. Two Half Reactions occur during the formation of rust
a. Oxidized Species: Fe Reduction Species: O
b. Oxidized Species: Fe Reduction Species: O
3. Define the term sacrificial metal
A sacrificial metal is a metal designed to be corroded, used, and destroyed for the preservation of
purpose of another metal.
4. Why is iron rust considered destructive and copper rust is not destructive, but
beneficial and attractive?
Iron rust is destructive because layers of thick metal are corroded away, leading to weakened
alloys and layers of rust that make the metal not as strong as it should be. Copper rust is a
chemical reaction that doesn’t deteriorate the metal, but turns it a shiny green color that protects
the metal, not destroys it.
Procedure:
1. Set up hot plate and add 200 mL of distilled water to the 250 mL beaker and heat until
boiling
2. Measure out 2.00 g of agar powder. Turn the heat off when water is boiling vigorously
and slowly add the agar to the water while stirring. When agar is dissolved, add 100
drops of .1 MK3 Fe (CN) 6- . Rinse the dropper and pipet and add five (5) drops of
phenolphthalein solution.
3. Place one bent iron nail and one straight iron nail into one of the Petri dishes. Be sure the
nails do not touch
Julia Gillespie
4. Tightly wrap one of the remaining nails with copper wire and the other with the zinc
strip. Place these nails in the other Petri dish
5. When the agar solution is cool pour each into a petri dish with a depth of .5 cm (to make
sure nails are completely covered).
6. Examine and collect data from petri dishes the following day
Data:
Item Before After
Agar Powder - Light yellow powder -turns water light yellow
- 2 grams color
Copper Wire Nail - Light brown wire - Surrounding liquid
- 5 cm long is blue
- Copper is less - Nail is copper color
reactive than iron - Nail is rusted where
copper wasn’t
Zinc Strip Nail - Silver sheet wrapped - Surrounding liquid
around iron nail is light pink
- Zinc is higher - Outside of nail is
reactivity than iron copper colored
- 5 cm long strip where the zinc was
Iron Nail - Silver and 10d - Outside of the nail
- Straight and clean turned copper color
Bent Nail - Silver and 10d - Outside of nail
- Bent in middle turned copper color
Results/Analysis:
Julia Gillespie
Before After
The petri dishes showed color changes on nails that were wrapped in other metals, whereas iron
that was alone simply rusted because there were no disturbances. The blue indicator was only on
the nail with the Copper wrapped around it and the pink indicator surrounded the area around the
nail where the Zinc strip was not wrapped. On the Copper nail, the whole thing was rusted, but
on the Zinc nail, only the metal under the Zinc strip was corroded.
Conclusion:
● What is the significance of the pink and blue regions around each nail?
The pink and blue regions around the area of each nail show indicators of oxidation and
reduction reactions occurring on each nail, as well as signal the formation of Iron and hydroxide
ions as the products of the reaction.
● What conclusions can you draw from each nail? Compare and contrast the two
nails in the two dishes.
You can conclude that the nails that do not have other metals wrapped around them didn’t have
any disturbances, therefore they went on to rust and oxidize as normal. The Zinc nail can show
that because the higher reactivity of Zinc compared to Iron, there will be gaining of iron ions and
a reduction reaction. The Copper nail was less reactive than the iron, therefore the iron just
rusted around the Copper, and released Iron ions and oxidized.
● Why did corrosion occur at the blue sites in Dish (a)?
Corrosion occurred at the blue sites in Dish A because these were the areas on the iron nail that
were oxidized and the blue was a result of the rust and the releasing of iron ions.
● What is the whitish substance surrounding the zinc-wrapped nail in Dish (b)?
Julia Gillespie
The whitish substance surrounding the Zinc wrapped nail in Dish B is the reduction reaction
products of gaining Iron ions.
● Explain the difference in corrosion between the two nails in Dish (b).
The difference in corrosion for the two nails in Dish B is that the Zinc wrapped nail did not
corrode as much because it was more reactive than the iron. However, the Copper nail oxidized
and rusted all over because Copper is less reactive than Iron.
● What effect does stressing the nail have on the corrosion of the nail?
Stressing the nail affects the corrosion because it weakens the nails and allows it to be open to
oxidation more easily.
● What other metals could be used as sacrificial metals?
Any other metal that has a higher reactivity than Iron could be used as a sacrificial metal in this
experiment.
● Did the experiment produce expected results?
The experiment results were exactly what were expected.
● Are there any suggestions for improvements?
There are no suggestions of improvements for this experiment.
Extra Conclusion Questions:
- What did this lab demonstrate?
This lab demonstrated the oxidation, reduction, loss and gain of ions, and the result of reactions
between elements with lower and higher reactivities.
- Did you achieve the desired purpose?
The desired purpose was to understand the oxidation and reduction and corrosion of reactions,
and this was achieved.
- Include possible sources of error.
Possible sources of error include not having exactly 2g of Agar Powder, the right amount of
indicating chemicals, or not preparing the boiling water and Agar powder correctly.
- Which Big Idea or science practice did this experiment cover? What unit or content
did this demonstrate?
The Big Idea this experiment presented was reaction types and helped demonstrate Odox and
Redox reactions, as well as corrosion.
