Conduct an experiment to show that air and water are necessary for corrosion of Iron

Corrosion

The rusting of iron (iron oxide), tarnishing of silver (silver sulphide), development of green coating on copper (copper carbonate) and bronze are some of the examples of  corrosion.

 Why corrosion occurs?

Let us find out

Activity

Aim: To show that air and water are necessary for corrosion of Iron

Materials Required: Three Test tubes, iron nails, anhydrous calcium chloride, water, oil, distilled water, corks.

experiment air and water necessary for corrosion (rusting)
experiment air and water necessary for corrosion (rusting)

Procedure:

  1.  Take three test tubes and place clean iron nails in each of them.
  2.  Label these test tubes A,B and C.
  3. Pour some water in test tube A and cork it.
  4.  Pour boiled distilled water in test tube B, add about 1 ml of oil and cork it.
  5.  The oil will float on water and prevent the air from dissolving in the water.
  6. Put some Anhydrous Calcium Chloride in test tube C and cork it.
  7. Anhydrous Calcium Chloride will absorb the moisture, if any, from the air.
  8. Leave these test tubes for a few days and then observe (see figure).

Observation:

We will observe that iron nails rust in test tube A, but they do not rust in test tubes B and C. In the test tube A, the nails are exposed to both air and water. In the test tube B, the nails are exposed to only water, and the nails in test tube C are exposed to dry air. In metallic corrosion, a metal is oxidised by loss of electrons generally to oxygen and results in the formation of oxides.

Coclusion: Hence we conclude that Corrosion of iron (commonly known as rusting) occurs in presence of water and air.

Sources: Bajrai Online Solutions has listed this Experiment from the Physical Science Class 10th Textbook Telangana State.

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