An Investigation Of The Factors Affecting Rusting

Of Iron Essay, Research Paper

PLAN Background Information Only Iron and steel rust. Other

metals corrode. Rusting is an oxidation process. Rust is a flaky red-brown

solid which is largely hydrated iron. Prediction I think that the nail in the test

tube with air and water in it will be the only one to rust. The other nails

will not rust that much. Apparatus 4 test tubes, 4 nails, cooking oil,

water, silica gel, boiled water and 2 rubber bungs. Method Collect apparatus Place one nail in a beaker with

silica gel and place a rubber bung on the top to cover it. Place a second nail in a beaker with

water and air. Put cooking oil into one beaker.

Place one nail in it. Boil some water and put it into a test

tube. Place the last nail in this beaker and cover it with a rubber bung. Leave all four beakers for two days

or longer if possible. Inspect the nails to see if rusting

has occurred, and how much. Results When we came back to the test tubes

we found that the nails in silica gel and cooking oil had not rusted at all but

the nail in the boiled water had rusted slightly and the nail in the air and

water had rusted quite a lot. ConclusionI have found that the water and

oxygen need to be present for a nail to rust. If one of these factors is

eliminated then the nail will not rust. EvaluationOur experiment worked well and our

prediction was correct. One? of our

results was not quite accurate the nail in the boiled rusted when it shouldn?t

have.