GSCI1103L – General Chemistry I Lab

Lab Project

Factors which Cause Metal Corrosion

Mikha Kristofer

2020390004
Abstract

The reduction and oxidation reaction, which people usually call the redox reaction, is one of

chemistry’s fundamental type of reaction. Redox reaction is involved in many kinds of chemical reaction.

However, it is mostly found in electrochemistry, one of the fields in chemistry which studies electricity

and its correlation to chemical reactions (Flowers et al., 2019). Electrochemistry plays an important role

in our lives as it has resolved many problems such as the pollution due to the car’s engine combustion

(with the electric car) and even the degradation of metal due to corrosion (by gilding). However, the

emphasis of this experiment will not be on the solutions to prevent corrosion. Instead, through this it will

be examined what causes corrosion.

Introduction

Corrosion is the event of metal degradation which occurs due to the redox reaction between a

metal and chemical substances in its surrounding which eventually produces undesirable compounds

(Flowers et al., 2019; Veerendra, 2020). In a corossion, metals are oxidized, whereas oxygen (which is

air) experiences reduction. An example of corrosion which is common in our daily lives is the rusting of

iron. The rust which occur in metals are usually in the form of oxide or carbonate. For instance, when iron

rusts, the chemical compound which appear on top of the iron is the 𝐹𝑒2 𝑂3 ⋅ 𝑛𝐻2 𝑂, a solid substance

which have reddish brown color.

Since corrosion is an electrochemical process, there will be anode and cathode involved.

Therefore, iron will be treatened as anode since it will experience oxidation. The oxidation reaction which

occur in the iron (anode) can be described as follows.

2+
𝐹𝑒(𝑠) → 𝐹𝑒(𝑎𝑞) + 2𝑒 −
The electron released from the anode will flow to the other part of the iron which acts as the cathode. In

the cathode, oxygen will be reduced, as described in either of the following reactions.

− +
𝑂2 (𝑔) + 2𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙) + 4𝑒 − → 4𝑂𝐻(𝑎𝑞) or 𝑂2 (𝑔) + 4𝐻(𝑎𝑞) + 4𝑒 − → 2𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙)

Therefore, the whole chemical reaction can be:

2+ − + 2+
2𝐹𝑒(𝑠) + 𝑂2 (𝑔) + 2𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙) → 2𝐹𝑒(𝑎𝑞) + 4𝑂𝐻(𝑎𝑞) or 2𝐹𝑒(𝑠) + 𝑂2 (𝑔) + 4𝐻(𝑎𝑞) → 2𝐹𝑒(𝑎𝑞) + 2𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙)

The iron (II) cation which is formed in the anode is then oxidized, creating iron (III) cation which

eventually becomes a hydrated oxide compound, which is the rust itself.

2+ +
4𝐹𝑒(𝑎𝑞) + 𝑂2 + (4 + 2𝑛) 𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙) → 2𝐹𝑒2 𝑂3 ⋅ 𝑛𝐻2 𝑂 + 8𝐻(𝑎𝑞)

The part of the iron which acts as anode and the part which acts as catode are dependent to several factors

such as impurity or the density difference in the metal.

Corrosion can also be defined as the attack which deteriorates metal due to the chemical reaction

occur inside the metal or electrochemistry with the environment (Speight, 2014). Another definition also

mentions that corrosion is the reversal of the metal’s extraction process from its mineral ore, also known

as metallurgy (2019). For instance, the iron metal in the free nature exists in the form of an oxide metal or

sulfide metal. After the metal is extracted and processed, the metal will be used to make steel or alloy

steel. During its usage, the steel will react with the environment and causes corrosion (so that it becomes

iron (II) oxide compound)

The Standar Electrode Potential and Nernst Law will help one to know the possibility of getting a

corrosion. The speed of corrosion depends on many aspects. One of those aspects could be the oxide

layer, since the existence of this layer can avoid a more significant potential difference with the other

electrodes compared to when the metal is clean from oxide layer. However, it is presumable that there

could be other aspects which can determine how fast a metal corrodes. Therefore, those aspects will be

determined by conducting the following experiment.

Materials and Methods

Materials

The following are the tools and materials which will be used in this experiment:

1. 5 hammer nails

2. 5 glasses (replacing test tubes)

3. Water

4. Salt

5. Sugar

6. Cooking Oil

7. Sprite

8. Teaspoon

Methods (Procedures)

1. Prepare all the tools and materials needed for the experiment.

2. Pour water into three glasses, cooking oil into a glass, and Sprite into a glass.

3. Put some sugar into the glass containing water and some salt into the other glass which also

containing water.

4. Stir the sugar and the salt which have been put into the respective glasses.

5. Put a hammer nail in each of the glasses.

6. Write down your observation results and attach pictures into the report (if available).

Experiment Video

The video of the student conducting the experiment can be viewed in the following Google Drive link.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FSzCd-JRPSmXXd74eQusltBm4hGeuCDX/view?usp=sharing
Results and Discussions

Results

Day Picture (with the legend) Liquid/mixture Remarks

used as the

medium

1 [No photo attached] All Rust is not yet formed

2 Still Water No rust is formed

Water and Sugar No rust is formed

Mixture

Top: Still Water

Bottom:

Water and Sugar Mixture

Cooking Oil No rust is formed

Water and Salt Rust can be seen in a small

Mixture fraction of the nail

Top: Cooking Oil

Bottom:

Water and Salt Mixture

 Sprite Rust can be observed in

the upper part of the nail

Sprite
3 Sprite Rust can be observed in

nearly the entire nail’s

surface

Cooking Oil No rust is observed

Water and salt A little amount of rust is

mixture observed in the nail’s

surface

Water and sugar

mixture No rust is observed

In order of clockwise direction:

Sprite, cooking oil, water and salt mixture,

water and sugar mixture, still water Still water No rust is observed
4 Sprite Rust can be observed in

almost the entire nail’s

surface

Cooking oil No rust is observed

Water and salt Rust can be seen in some

mixture parts of the nail’s surface

Water and sugar No rust is observed

mixture

In order of clockwise direction:

Still water Rust starts to come up in a
Sprite, cooking oil, water and salt mixture,
small fraction of the nail’s
water and sugar mixture, still water
surface

5 Cooking oil No rust is observed

Water and salt Rust can be observed in a

mixture small fraction of the nail’s

surface

Sprite Rust can be observed in

Top to bottom, left to right:
the entire nail and the
Cooking oil, water and salt mixture, Sprite,
liquid starts to change
still water, water and sugar mixture
color into yellow
 Still water Rust has come up in a

small fraction of the nail’s

surface

Water and sugar No rust is observed

mixture

Discussions

Among the five liquids which act as the storage medium of the nails, it can be observed that corrosion

only occurs in three liquids, water and salt mixture (sodium chloride solution), Sprite, and salt water. On

the other hand, the nails which is dipped into cooking oil and glucose solution does not corrode.

From the nail dipped in sodium chloride solution, it can be recognized that electrolytes are

involved in the iron’s corrosion process. Sodium chloride are dissociated to become sodium and chloride

ions. The chloride ion will attack the iron to cause corrosion. This is known as a two-step progress called

passive film penetration and film breaking (You et al., 2020). Iron and sodium chloride reacts

becoming iron (II) chloride and sodium, which can be described in the following reaction.

𝐹𝑒(𝑠) + 2𝑁𝑎𝐶𝑙(𝑎𝑞) → 𝐹𝑒𝐶𝑙2 (𝑎𝑞) + 2𝑁𝑎(𝑠)

From the nail dipped in sprite, it can be observed that the nail rusts a lot. This is due to

the dissociation of sodium hydrogen carbonate into sodium and hydrogen carbonate. In this case,

the rust will be in a carbonate, namely the iron (II) hydrogen chloride. This is similar with the

previous case, although the form of the rust is different. This corrosion process can be briefly

described by the following chemical reaction.

𝐹𝑒(𝑠) + 2𝑁𝑎𝐻𝐶𝑂3 (𝑎𝑞) → 𝐹𝑒(𝐻𝐶𝑂3 )2 (𝑎𝑞) + 2𝑁𝑎(𝑠)

 Last, from the nail which is dipped in still water, it can be observed that water can also

cause corrosion. Water sinergies with oxygen, which is one of the unrecognizable compounds, to

react with iron and create a hydrate in the form of iron (III) oxide. Therefore, oxygen also plays

an important role in causing iron to corrode, not only in still water, but also in the other liquids

mentioned previously.

Conclusion

From this experiment, it can be concluded that:

- Corrosion is the process of oxidation of metal.

- Corrosion is an example of redox reaction which can be an electrochemical one due to the

existence of anodes and cathodes inside the so-called electrochemistry cell.

- Some of the factors which cause corrosion are the water, air humidity, and electrolytes.

Works Cited

Flowers, P., et al. (2019). Chemistry. OpenStax.

Speight, J. G. (2014). Corrosion. Oil and Gas Corrosion Prevention. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-

800346-6.00001-6

Veerendra. (2020, December 1). Rusting as a redox reaction. A Plus Topper. Retrieved April 9, 2022,
from https://www.aplustopper.com/rusting-redox-reaction/

What is corrosion? Cathwell. (2019, December 10). Retrieved April 9, 2022, from
https://cathwell.com/what-is-corrosion/

You, Z., Lai, Y., Zeng, H., & Yang, Y. (2020). Influence of water and sodium chloride content on
corrosion behaviour of cast iron in Silty Clay. Construction and Building Materials, 238, 117762.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117762