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.