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How Water Temperature Affects the Oxidation of Metal

Jack Crowley
jack.crowley@ocvts.org
Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science
Freshman Research Project 2021-2022
Introduction:
Corrosion is the damage of metal slowly by chemical action (Oxford Dictionary,2020).
One of the most common form of corrosion is oxidation, which produces rust.. Oxidation is the
loss of electrons during a reaction by a molecule, atom or ion. Oxidation occurs when the
oxidation state of a molecule, atom or ion is increased (Helmenstein 2020). The chemical
formula of rust is 4Fe + 3O2 + 6H2O → 4Fe(OH)3 (Deziel, 2018).
Whenever water is present, the water dramatically accelerates the process of oxidation in
iron (Zhang 2018). This is because with the help of oxygen, the decomposition of water produces
more iron oxides and hydroxides (Zhang 2018). The addition of water is one of the best ways to
accelerate the process of oxidation.
Rust can affect metal in many different ways. Rust mainly makes the metal it is on
weaker, as some of the iron or steel is replaced with a brown coating. This is why cars and other
metal structures have to be monitored to see if rust is present. Rust also causes metal parts to
slide over one another and get stuck, which is why a rusty nail takes more effort to unscrew than
a newer nail.Since rust is an insulator, corroded metal has trouble conducting electricity, or in
some cases being unable to conduct electricity at all. Rust can cause the piece of metal to weigh
more, from the weight of the oxygen combined with the iron (Department of Physics, University
of Illinois). All of these factors combined can be detrimental to the safety of many buildings,
bridges, and cars.
The purpose of this project was to see if water temperature was a factor in oxidation. As
water temperatures are warming at an alarming rate world wide, the effects on iron structures in
water like bridges and boats could be affected by this.

Hypothesis:
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By examining screws and their oxidation process, it can be hypothesized that the heated

water will have a greater effect on the screws and the amount of rust present, since higher

temperature has a relationship to higher movement speed between electrons.

Materials-
● 3 1.5 Inch Iron Drill Screws
● Food Scale
● UV Heat Lamp
● 3 Ceramic Bowls
● Refrigerator

Methodology-

1. Setup of screws

● Filled each bowl with tap water

● Put one bowl in a room temperature environment

● Put one bowl in a refrigerator

● Put one bowl under heat lamp

● Weighed the screws as a before-corrosion reference

● Placed one screw in each bowl

● Labeled each bowl

2. Collection

● Every 5 days the screws were weighed

● Measurements were documented in a notebook

● Repeated process for 25 days (5 sets of data)

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3. Data

● A bar graph was used to compare the cold, room temperature, and the warm

screws

Table 1: The weights of all the screws in grams.

Day Heated Screw Room Temp Chilled Screw

0 4.22 4.22 4.22
5 4.28 4.28 4.27
10 4.34 4.3 4.31
25 4.37 4.3 4.33
20 4.4 4.34 4.32
25 4.41 4.35 4.34

Figure 1: Setup of the heated screw.

Placed on top of another bowl so the

water would heat more efficiently.

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Figure 2: Setup of the chilled screw.

Results:

The weights of the screws were recorded every 5 days. The starting weight for each of the screws

was 4.22g. The mean weight gain per day was calculated for the heated, room temperature, and

chilled screws respectively to compare the rates of change. A chart was created to give a visual

representation of the differences in the weights (Figure 3). The heated screw was most affected

in relation to weight gain.

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Figure 3: The weights of the heated, room temperature, and chilled screws in grams compared to

one another. n=5

Discussion:

After analyzing the results, the heated screw had the highest increase in weight, followed

by the room temperature screw. The chilled screw had the least change in weight as well (Figure

3 & Table 1). For the heated screw, the mean rate of change was +0.0076g per day. The room

temperature screw had a mean rate of change was +0.0052g per day. The chilled screw had a

mean rate of change of +0.0048g per day (Table 1). The rates were calculated by taking the total

change in weight and dividing it by 25. For example, the heated screw had gained 0.19 grams,

dividing that by 25 resulted to a gain of 0.0076 grams per day. It was observed that the water for

the chilled screw was very clear, while the heated screw’s water was dirty and flakey. Applying

the information given could improve architectural industries for the safety of building structures

on water.

Conclusion:

The heated water suggested that higher water temperatures have the greatest effect on

iron oxidation, as it was hypothesized. This is most likely because the speed of the electrons in

the water were higher, therefore producing more rust molecules. Colder waters do not have as
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great of an effect compared to room temperature waters (Figure 3). It was made clear that the

higher temperatures have a much greater effect compared to the lower temperatures, as the

results showed.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Dr. Williams for providing materials and assisting me throughout

the experiment. I would also like to thank the upperclassmen for helping me set up my

experiment.

References:

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Department of Physics at University of Illinois. (2020, September 4). Q & A: Effects of

rust | Department of Physics | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ask The Van.

https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=
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https://ceramics.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1151-2916.1991.tb06803.x

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