CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

Topic: To study the effect of metal coupling on

rusting of iron .

Submitted by: Sumit Chakrabarti

Class: XII
Roll No:
Registration No:
Subject: Chemistry(043)
Session: 2019-20

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 INDEX
1.Certificate
2.Acknowledgement
3.Introduction
i. Mechanism of corrosion of metal
ii. Methods of prevention of corrosion of
metals.

4.Project Overview:
i. Aim
ii. Requirements
iii. Procedure
iv. Observations
5.Conclusion
7.Bibliography

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 CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that Sumit Chakrabarti, a student of class XII-A(Sci) has

successfully completed the research on the below mentioned project under the
guidance of Mr. Samrat Dey during the year 2019-20 in partial fulfillment of
Chemistry Practical examination conducted by CBSE, New Delhi.

__________________ ___________________
(Signature of External Examiner) (Signature of Chemistry Teacher)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The successful completion of any task would be incomplete without mentioning the
names of those persons who helped to make it possible. I take this opportunity to
express my gratitude in few words and respect to all those who helped me in the
completion of this project.

It is my humble pleasure to acknowledge my deep senses of gratitude to my Chemistry

teacher Mr. Samrat Dey , for her valuable support, constant help and guidance at each
and every stage, without which this project would not have come forth.

I also want to thank our school's lab assistant, Mr. Manik Sir for providing me with all
the apparatus and other equipments that I required to carry out my project.

Last, but not the least, I would like to thank CBSE for giving us the opportunity to
undertake this project.

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 INTRODUCTION
Metal corrosion is the most common form of corrosion. The corrosion occurs at the
surface of the metal in forms of chemical or electrochemical reactions. This process
significantly reduces the strength, plasticity, toughness and other mechanical
properties of metallic material. However, because of the metal and its alloys is still the
most important pipe and structure materials, the cost of corrosion grows significantly
with the growth of industries. This many scientists focus on the research of corrosion
control in order to reduce the cost of replacing the rusting metal material. Nowadays,
there are mainly two corrosion control methods that are very popular in the world .
One is impressed current and another is sacrificial anode cathode protection system. In
this project, we will focus on the mechanism and application of the sacrificial anode
cathode protection system.

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(i) MECHANISM OF CORROSION OF METAL

General Principle of Corrosion: Reaction is the fundamental reaction during the

corrosion process, which the electron can flow from certain areas on the metal surface
to other areas through a solution which can conduct electric currents. Basically, both
anodic and cathode reactions have to balance each other out, resulting in a neutral
reaction. Both anodic and cathodic reactions occur simultaneously at same rates.
What's more, the site of these electrodes may consist of either two different kinds of
metals, or they may be on different areas of the same piece of metal, resulting a
potential difference between the two electrodes, so that the oxidation reaction of the
metal at the anode and formation o negative ions at the cathode can take place at the
same time.

Similar electrical potentials may also

be developed between two areas of
component made of a single metal as
a result of small differences in
composition or structure or of
differences in the conditions to which
the metal surface is exposed. That part of a metal which becomes the corroding area is
called the "anode"; that which acts as other electrode is called "cathode" which does
not corrode, but is an important part of the system. In the corrosion systems commonly
involved, with water containing some salts in solution as electrolyte. Corrosion may
even take place with pure water provided that oxygen is present. In such cases oxygen
combines with the hydrogen generated at the cathode, removing it and permitting the
reaction to go on.

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Rusting: An Electrochemical Mechanism
Rusting may be explained by an electrochemical mechanism. In the presence of moist
air containing dissolved oxygen or carbon dioxide, the commercial iron behaves as if
composed of small electrical cells. At anode of cell, iron passes into solution as ferrous
ions. The electron moves
towards the cathode and form
hydroxyl ions. Under the
influence of dissolved oxygen,
The ferrous ions and hydroxyl
ions interact to form, i.e.,
hydrated ferric oxide.

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(ii) METHODS OF PREVENTION OF CORROSION AND
RUSTING

Some of the methods used are :-

(1) Barrier Protection: In this method, a barrier film is

introduced between iron surface and atmospheric air.
The film is obtained by painting, varnishing etc.

(2) Galvanization: The metallic iron is covered by

a layer of more reactive metal such as zinc. The
active metal losses electrons in preference of ion.
This protecting from rusting and corrosion.

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PROJECT OVERVIEW:
AIM: In this project the aim is to investigate effect of the metals coupling on the
rusting of iron. Metal coupling affects the rusting of iron. If the nail is coupled with a
more electro-positive metal like zinc, magnesium or aluminum rusting is prevented but
if on the other hand, it is coupled with less electro-positive metals like copper, the
rusting is facilitated.

REQUIREMENTS:

 Two Petri dishes

 Four test-tube
 Four iron nails
 Beaker
 Sand paper
 Wire gauge
 Gelatin
 Copper, Zinc and Magnesium strips
 Potassium ferricyanide solutions
 Phenolphthalein

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PROCEDURE:
(1) At first we have to clean the surface of iron nails with the help of sand paper.

(2) After that we have to wind zinc strip around the nail, a clean copper wire around
the second and clean magnesium strip around the third nail. Then put all these three
and a fourth nail in Petri dishes so that they are not in contact with each other.

(3) Preparation of agar agar solution. Heat about 3 g of agar agar in 100 ml of water
taken in a beaker until solution becomes clear. Add about 1 ml of phenolphthalein
solution and stir well the contents

(4) Then to fill the Petri dishes with hot

agar-agar solution in such a way that only
lower half of the nails are covered with the
liquids.

(5) Keep the covered Petri dishes for one day or so.

(6) The liquids set to a gel on cooling. Two types of patches are observed around the
rusted nail, one is blue and the other pink. Blue patch is due to the reaction between
Ferrous ions and potassium ferricyanide to
form potassium ferroferricyanide,
KFe[Fe(CN)6] whereas pink patch is due
to the formation of hydroxyl ions which
turns colourless phenolphthalein to pink.

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OBSERVATIONS:

S.No. Metal pair Colour of the patch Nail rusts or not

(1) Iron-Zinc Pink No
(2) Iron-Magnesium Blue Yes
(3) Iron-Copper Pink No
(4) Iron-Nail Blue Yes

CONCLUSIONS:

It is clear from the observation that coupling of iron with more electropositive metals
such as zinc and magnesium resists corrosion and rusting of iron. Coupling of iron
with less electropositive metals such as copper increases rusting.

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 BIBLIOGRAHY

The sources of my investigatory project are :

 Comprehensive Chemistry Practical Book - XII

 Scribd.com
 Research Blogs
 NCERT Chemistry Book

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