CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

ON
‘THE REMOVAL OF RUST BY THE PROCESS OF
ELECTROLYSIS’
FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-2023
SUBMITTED BY
N.S.ANISH 12A ROLL NO:
T.ARISUDHAN 12A ROLL NO:
T.SURYA PRAKASH 12A ROLL NO:
UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF
MRS.G.UMA [PGT CHEMISTRY]
 KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA NO 2
TPKM MADURAI [625005]

CHEMISTRY
2022-2023
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This to certify that N.S.ANISH, T.ARISUDHAN AND
T. SURYA PRAKASH students of class XII A have
Successfully completed their chemistry investigatory
project on Of "The Removal Of Rust By The Process
Electrolysis" under the guidance Of Mrs.UMA mam
for the academic session 2022-2023.

Internal examiner External examiner

Principal
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are extremely thankful to CBSE

council, our respected principal Sir
A.JERALD, our Teacher Mrs. G.UMA
mam for allowing us to do a project on
the topic of "To study the removal of
rusted iron by the process of
electrolysis", We are also thankful to
the school and the teacher who always
lent a helping hand to us while doing
this project. Once again I
wholeheartedly thank everyone who has
helped us.
 INDEX
v TOPIC
v INTRODUCTION
v AIM
v MATERIAL REQURIED
v THEORY
v PROCEDURE
v PHOTOS
v OBSERVATION
v RESULT AND CONCLUSION
v PRECATION
v BIBLOGRAPHY
v EXPERIMENTAL PHOTOS
 T OP I C
THE REMOVAL OF RUST BY THE
PROCESS ELECTROLYSIS
 INTRODUCTION
Metals and alloys under goes rusting and corrosion.
This process by which some metals when exposes to
atmospheric conditions forms an undesirable compound
on the surface is known as corrosion. The compounds
formed are usually oxides. Rusting is also a type of
corrosion but the term is restricted to iron or product
made from it. Iron is easily prone to rusting making its
surface rough. Chemically, rust is a hydrated ferric
oxides 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.

Fe → Fe2+ + 2e–
The electrons from the above reaction move towards the
cathode and hydroxyl ions.
H2O + (O)+2 e- +2OH-
Under the influence of dissolved oxygen the ferrous
ions and hydroxyl ions interact to form rust i.e.
hydroxyl ferric oxide.
 2 Fe2+ + H 2O+(O)→ 2Fe3++2 OH-
3+ –
2Fe + 6OH 2OH →Fe² O 2 . 3H O

If supply of oxygen is limited the corrosion product

maybe black anhydrous magnetite, Fe2O
METHODS OF PREVENTION OF
CORROSION AND RUSTING
Some of the method used to prevent
corrosion rusting are :

Barrier Protection :
A thin flim is introduced between iron and
atmospheric oxygen, carbondioxide and
moisture. The following methods are
adopted for depositing thin flim on metal
surface:
• By covering the surface with paint or a
thin flim of grease.(eg:bisphenol).
• By electroplating iron with some non
corrosive metals such as
nickel,chromium,copper,etc........
Galvanisation:
In this method, iron surface is covered with a
more electropositive metal than iron which
gets oxidised in preference to iron. In such a
situation the more electropositive metal loses
electrons instead of iron and thus this metal is
sacrificed at the cost of iron, hence the name
sacrificial protection. Iron is generally coated
with zinc and this is process is called
galvanisation.
This is also a case of sacrificial protection. This
method is used for the protection of
underground water pipes or iron tanks. In this
method , the exposed surface of iron is
protected by connecting it to a block of some
active metal such as magenesium, aluminium
or zinc. The iron surface acts as a cathode.
This method, therefore is also called cathodic
protection.
BARRIER PROTECTION
GALVANIZATION
 AIM

To study the removal of iron

rust by the process of
electrolysis
MATERIAL
S
REQUIRED

ü Beaker or bucket
ü Rusted iron
ü Non-rusted iron
ü Washing powder
ü Battery eliminator
ü Connecting wires
THEORY
Electrolysis converts stubborn reddish
Iron rust to black chemical compound that
scrubs off quite easily. Simply started, it
uses electrical power to perform the
opposite chemical reaction.

During electrolysis the rust turns from

red to black. The rusted iron is reduced
to iron metal. This reduced iron will
form a somewhat porous layer of new
iron on the metal object being cleaned.
After electrolysis the iron object will
rust very quickly unless it is protected
because this porous layer of new iron
has a high surface area. The rest of the
rust may reduced to a variety of
compounds depending on the
compounds in the original rust and the
details of the electrolysis. Typically the
black stuff that can be rubbed off after
electrolysis is a mixture of iron metal
and magnetite, Fe O , an oxide of
iron. Magnetite is an intermediate
product in the reduction of rust to iron
metal. It is the black stuff in the
magnetic recording tapes. So once
your parts are cleaned or removed
from the solution, you will want to
rinse and brush them off to remove
the loose iron, dry them quickly and
completely and protect them with
primer or other rust preventive .

3 4
PROCEDURE
1. Take a non-rusted iron as cathode
and a rusted iron as anode.
2. Make a solution of 3 litre of water
mixed 2-3 spoon of washing powder.
3. Connect the anode to the positive of
the battery and cathode to the
negative of the battery.
4. Both the electrodes kept in the
solution and plug the current of 2amps.
5. After the plug the current some
bubbles have to evolve from it. If not,
then rub the rusted iron to speed up
the process.
6. After 30-40 min unplug the battery.
OBESERVATION
After the electrolysis process, we can
observe the rust can settle down as
anode mud and the colour of the water
slight change in brown or reddish
colour. After that we have to clean the
dirt of the iron by a cloth.

ANODE : RUSTED IRON PIECE

CATHODE : NON RUSTED IRON PIECE
ELECTROLYTE : Na2CO3
ANODE MUD : RUSTED PARTICLES
RESULT AND
CONCLUSION

By the electrolysis process we can

remove the rust from the rusted iron.
PRECAUTION

Ø DON’T TOUCH THE WATER OR

THE METAL WHILE IT IS PLUGED .

Ø DON’T ADD SO MUCH OF

WASHING POWDER TO THE WATER ,
IT WILL AFFECT THE PROCESS .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ü https://youtu.be/54ADeB6V1rQ
ü CBSE NCERT text book.
ü https://www.nchasia.com/en-
in/nch-insights/industry-news/rust-
removal-electrolysis
ü Chemistry refreshers
EXPERIMENTA
L PHOTOS