What Metals Rust the Fastest (Steel, Copper, Bronze)

A. Hi, Zoe. As we've said more than a dozen times now, only iron and steel can rust -- but that doesn't mean that the zinc alloy won't corrode. I would be very surprised if the split ring is zinc alloy as claimed though. They probably have to be plated with something to deter corrosion. Good luck.
Regards,

A. Hi, Daniel

It would be best to pick something real and repeatable to expose them to, like sea water. If you can't conveniently get real sea water, then look up the concentration of salt in average sea water and make a solution with that much salt in it as "simulated seawater".

A "normal" bolt would probably be plain steel, but you should call it "steel" rather than "normal". Stainless steel bolts are made of steel with other metals like nickel and chromium added to them to make them more corrosion resistant, so you should probably expect it to be so.

When zinc plating corrodes, the corrosion product is white. When the zinc is all gone, there is a steel bolt underneath, so it will rust. When brass corrodes it can be dark brown to black or it can be green. I would probably expect green when exposed to salt water.

The steel bolt will corrode noticeably in under a week, but I don't know if your experiment will last long enough for you to see significant corrosion on the other bolts. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Keanu. Somehow you have to determine what metals these three objects are made out of. The key may be brass (is it yellowish and not attracted to a magnet?). The can tab is probably aluminum. The piece of a can could be aluminum or tin-plated steel.

Regards,

A. Hi, Faith. An important part of your project is clear thinking, and very clearly formulating what you are trying to do. Unfortunately you made a typo in phrasing your question, so we don't know if your thinking is clear or not.

Please ask your librarian what books to use for research. S/he went to school to learn how to help people with things like this; we didn't. She knows what books the library has; we don't. She understands your reading level; we don't. She has surely seen the same question asked by other Jacksonville school system students; we haven't. Not trying to blow you off, but a very important part of your assignment is to practice how to do research, and asking strangers on the internet what books to read is bad practice; asking your librarian is very good practice. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Noah

I wouldn't use an empty can of corn since it may be metal and, if so, would corrupt your experiments by involving another metal. How much extra liquid is used probably doesn't matter, but the object must be completely immersed for consistent results. To do it really right, I would suggest having 6 of each object, and 18 small disposable plastic cups or glass dessert bowls, etc. Put water in 6 cups, coke in 6 cups, OJ in 6 cups. Put one quarter in each of two cups of water, one quarter in each of two cups of coke, etc.

Regards,

A. Yes, Ipshita, that does sound like a good science project. But don't just check after five days -- try to observe and record the results every 12 hours for the five days. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Dominique.

I was about to address your question when my aunt entered the room (she pronounces it 'ont'). She's requesting the keyboard, so I'll have to answer lat ...

- - - - - - -

Dear Ms. Dominique P.:

Should you discover that a stranger's kind response to your request for enlightenment may contain a perceived error, you may gently make a suggestion in that direction -- but only, of course, after opening your correspondence with the usual correct salutation and prefix of "Dear xxxxx, Thank you so much for your kind efforts...."

Very Truly Yours,
E. V. P. Mooney

A. Hi, Nishat.

Carolina Biological Supply has a "metal strips set" that includes aluminum, brass, copper, steel, and zinc.

Science Kit has something called "Metal Electrode Set" that includes Aluminum, Copper, Iron, Lead, Zinc, and Brass -- but they will only sell it to registered educational institutions. You can ask your teacher to get it for you, I suppose, unless you're home-schooled.

Amazon has a set of samples of aluminum, brass, copper, iron, lead, and zinc .

Regards,

Q. Hi, Nyla. The question is fine, except that you usually need/want to conduct an experiment, and you may find it hard to locate gold and silver to play around with. I'll give you a couple of pieces of food for thought that you can research and see where it takes you.

Most metals are found in nature as ores rather than as metal. The ores or rocks are actually oxidized/tarnished/ corroded reaction products of the metal and oxygen. To make iron and other metals usually requires melting the ore at very high temperature while removing the oxygen so it can turn back to metal.

You have probably heard that you must never burn charcoal indoors because you can die from carbon monoxide poisoning. That is, when charcoal burns, it tends to steal all the oxygen from the air. So making metals often involves coal or charcoal, not just for the heat, but also as a scavenger that removes oxygen so the ore can turn back to metal.

Metal plus oxygen equals metal oxides (corrosion, tarnish, rust, ore). Corrosion/tarnish/rust/ore minus oxygen equals metal. You might find it interesting that metals very slowly "burn". They slowly react with oxygen in the air, releasing a small amount of heat over a very long time, and leave tarnish/corrosion products behind. Because they release heat, the corroded form is more stable than the metal. You have to add energy (heat) to get from ore to metal.

Gold is one of very few metals that we find in nature as a metal. The reason we do find it in nature is that pure gold does not tarnish or corrode, because it does not "burn" in this way. Rather, gold does not release energy when it corrodes. Most jewelry is not pure gold, but an alloy of gold mixed with other metals like copper and silver, and then it can tarnish.

Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Lainie.

We appended your question onto a thread that already answers it: nothing can make bronze "rust" because rust is iron oxide and there is no iron in bronze. But bronze, like just about anything else, can corrode. Any acid, including vinegar or lemon juice, will accelerate the corrosion of bronze. If you add a little salt, it should be quite corrosive.

Regards,

CLR

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A. Hi Finn. The way it's actually done in industry is by weight loss. You make sure the item is dry, then you weigh the steel item before you start the test. Then you do whatever it is you do to make it rust. Then you use a stripping compound that will remove rust without causing any further rusting of the steel. Then you dry it and weight it again to determine the weight loss. You could try C-L-R for removing the rust .

If you don't have an accurate scale and a chemical that will remove the rust, you can pour the rusty liquid that you created by immersing the steel in water or whatever through a coffee filter and rub any rust that is on the piece onto the coffee filter, and display the filter as a qualitative indication of the amount of rust. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Benny. If I were to tell you that I was planning a science project to determine whether a Corvette or a Kenworth truck is a better vehicle, you would tell me that I need to narrow it down into which is faster, has better cornering ability, is able to haul heavier freight, is able to traverse a deeper puddle at a construction site, etc.

Your question is not a bad project idea, but you need to narrow it down a little bit by asking which one corrodes faster under specific conditions, such as when immersed in salt water, or fresh water, or bleach, or vinegar ... because one metal might not be most corrosion resistant under all circumstances, just as a Corvette might not be better than a Kenworth for every situation. One other thing ... do you have a reason to care which is more corrosion resistant? When you find a topic that you care about, that's always best. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi John.

Any acid (such as lemon juice or vinegar) will dissolve some metals to some extent. Adding some salt will speed it up. But you must let the acid dry up or it will keep the rust as well as the metal dissolved. So repeatedly spritz the items with a solution of vinegarand salt, preferably out in the warm sunlight.

Regards,

A. Hi Gwen. As mentioned several times on this page, rust is iron oxide, which comes from iron reacting with oxygen, so only materials which contain iron can rust. On your list only steel, iron, and stainless steel contain iron, so only they can actually rust (although the other materials can corrode).

Other than that, your experiment should be okay. Tell us you results after you do the experiment. You certainly don't want to know the answer before you do the experiment because then the experiment would be a complete waste of time, plus you probably wouldn't believe the results that you determined if they were contrary to what you expected. Good luck, and get back to us with your on-going results.

Regards,

A. Hi Seth. Are you asking which liquid out of all of the liquids in the world will cause nails to rust the most and the fastest? I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but I am reminding you that it is your project and you will benefit from it in direct proportion to how long and how hard you think about it.

Household bleach is quite good at making nails rust. Has your teacher given you safety instructions for this project? Are your parents helping you, reminding you to wear goggles? If not, read the instructions on the label and take them very seriously when they tell you not to mix bleach with anything. Good luck with the project.

Regards,