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I am trying to find the answer to the same question. I am 13-years old. And I need these answers for my science project. I want to know what happens when copper, bronze, and steel rusts? Do they brake or bend easily? Can you clean it up or have to replace it? Also in what kind of machinary are these metals used? Cars?
destiny
- riverside, California
Hello, Destiny. We've already said this, but will reword it for you to try to make it clearer. Copper is an element (you can look up 'element'). Bronze is an alloy (you can look up 'alloy') of the elements copper and tin. Iron is an element, and steel is a very useful, reasonably pure form of iron.
Rust is iron oxide, the corrosion product of iron. You can only make iron oxide from iron and oxygen; you can't make it out of copper or tin, so copper and bronze can never rust.
Copper and bronze can corrode or tarnish, however. In fact, all metals except precious metals like gold will eventually corrode back to a form very similar to the ores we find in nature. When metals corrode the surface turns to some kind of oxide or corrosion product rather than being metal anymore -- so it no longer performs the functions of metal.
Yes, it's likely to look poor, to be weak, to bend or break more easily, to become perforated with holes. Usually you can clean the metal -- remove the corrosion products -- but there is less metal left and eventually what's left will no longer serve the original function. Cars are made predominantly of steel, but the electrical wiring is copper; there may be some wear surfaces or electrical springs made of bronze.
Good luck with your project.
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 Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
I am doing a science fair project on which metals would rust the fastest.I just wanted to know which metal would only rust the fastest between iron,bronze,copper and steel. After that question is asked I would like to know what metal would tarnish the fastest between copper and steel.
Dario S.
- Detroit, Michigan
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January 7, 2008 Hi, Dario. Please try to express your question in terms of what has already been said. I have already explained twice why bronze and copper cannot rust but iron and steel can. I'll be happy to explain again if you can tell me what it is that you don't quite understand. As for whether copper or steel tarnishes fastest, get a piece of each, shine them up with fine sandpaper [link is to product info at Rockler] to remove existing rust or tarnish and get to bright metal, and start recording what you see. Good luck!
February 5, 2008 Hi I'm Owen and I'm ten years old and I'm doing a science fair project on metals that rust the fastest in water. This site has been very helpful to me. Would you have any suggestions on how I could get hold of a some metals for my expieriment? Is there anything I could use around my house? Also, do you know any good books that could help me? I was at the library and I couldn't find a thing about it? My mum is clueless. Owen E.
February 9, 2008 Plain steel nails would be best, Owen. Masonry nails if you have any (these are flat nails that look like long and very thin triangles. Use sandpaper to remove plating or paint from whatever nails you have. If you have some painted sheet metal from an old toy or whatever, you can sand the paint off of that -- but first test it with a magnet to make sure it is steel. Pennies are copper on their surface, and electrical wire and copper piping are pure copper. Good luck.
February 15, 2008 steel rust the faster anferneee h
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Well, yes, Anfernee. In exactly the same sense that fresh cod will turn into rotting fish faster than fresh cabbage or fresh carrots will turn into rotting fish.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
I am also doing a science project,but mine is steel, copper, aluminum, and brass. I need help! I have looked on the internet on oxidation, but nothing comes up!!
Nathan A.
- Bowling Green, Kentucky
September 21, 2008
Yes i am 14-years old and i am also doing a project over what types of metal rusts faster.. And i need help on finding a good Hypothesis!I am a hard working student but i just cant find or think of a good Hypothesis.. (its for my science project)
Christian E.
Student - little elm, Texas
Christian, the first principle is writing such a project is that
words have meanings, and we've already said at least 3 times on this
page alone that only steel and iron can rust and explained why
:-)
As for your hypothesis, I trust that you know what a hypothesis is.
It's a statement that you believe to be true and now want to
scientifically test. If you take a quick look at a bowl of M&M's
and it strikes you that there are a lot of orange ones, you might
form the hypothesis that "M&M puts more orange candies in the
bags than any other color". Then you might buy 5 bags and count each
color to try to prove or disprove your hypothesis, and follow it up
with research and an interview with their marketing department.
For your metal corrosion project, you should pick something that
attracts your curiosity and interests you for some particular reason,
because that's what makes for a good project. It's hard for someone
else to guess what you would be enthusiastic about, but think about
it. Maybe you collect bottle caps, or old coins; maybe you're
interested in classic cars but frustrated by how corroded all the
parts always are; maybe you race model boats whose innards get rusty;
maybe you do slot cars racing and your car hangs up due to poor
electricity conduction from wear or corrosion; maybe you've built a
metal wind chime; maybe when you were in kindergarten you made
memorabilia for your mom but now all the gold thumbtacks are rusted
and the silver ones aren't.
Find something that interests you and form a hypothesis, then ask
your teacher, parents, or librarian for help with how you can
demonstrate it. Good luck.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
October 8, 2008
I'm 16 years old and I want to know if there is any other metal that can rust except iron. Its for a science project.
Dewet C.
student - P.E., Eastern Province, South Africa
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October 8, 2008 Hi, Dewet. what exactly do you mean by rust? Regards,
Hi, Amy S
December 20, 2008 Im doing the same thing for my project and I have feeling that steel will rust faster so for your hypothesis u should put I think steel will rust faster because ...... hope I helped .ps I'm eleven inthe sixth grade. Jasmine M
January 3, 2009 I am 9 and I just completed this project for the science fair. Ted's answers were very specific and helped to explain the process and the reasoning for rusting. Thank you. For my project, I used 5 glass jars, salt and hot water. I tested 5 types of metal for a week. I put one metal in each jar of salt water and waited and recorded the results after a week. I was kind of surprised by what this experiment taught me and in the process of doing this , I learned a ton of information about metals and rusting. I even learned a thing or two about rust removal that my mom was happy to hear about. Try it for yourselves it was very interesting. Jonathan S. |
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I have a science fair project and if I leave a nail in cold water and hot water will that effect the rate of rust?
Ty J
Student - Warrensburg, Missouri
January 15, 2009
Yes, Ty, that sounds like a good topic for a science fair project.
Keeping the water hot can be problematic though. Any idea how you are
going to do that? Another student opted to do refrigerator
temperature vs. room temperature because refrigerator temperature
seemed easier to maintain than a heated temperature. But maybe your
mother or father could help you put your experiment dish on top of
the hot water heater? Or maybe you have an aquarium with warm water
in it that you could float your experiment dish on?
Let us know how your experiment comes out. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
January 15, 2009
we are both fifth graders and are required to enter the science
fair at our school. we are partners. any way we want to know which
type of metal will rust the fastest and if it will rust within one
month and a half due to our science fair is in March.we will be
trieing to make the rust go away with ten types of different
chemicles.such as bleach,rubbing alchol,hydrogen poroxide,and nail
polish remover.
we thank you for your support.
cassidi & rachel n.
student acidemics - valley springs, California
January 18, 2009
Hi, soap-free Steel Wool [link is to product info at Rockler] rusts quickly because it is steel and it has a huge surface area.
Regards,
Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
hi im kyana and im 12 and i want to know when rust occurs on metals does it effect its structure/shape and also i know rust effects the appearance of a metal but why when metals rust they turn into a brownish color?
kyana b
- New York
Hi, Kyana. Rust is iron oxide, a reaction product that is generated by iron combining with oxygen. Where does the iron come from? It comes from the piece that is rusting. So the piece that is rusting is losing some of itself. The area turns brownish because rust is brownish. Good luck.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
hey,
I hate to tell you this but only steel and iron rust. everything else
has to be called corrosion.
Madeleine Leung
- Adelaide, SA, Australia
I think the science project questions are a study on oxidation.
Oxidation is a chemical reaction involving Oxygen.
Rust is the common name for ferric oxide, but is also (incorrectly)
used to refer to other type of oxidation/corrosion. As Ted stated
only ferrous metals (those which contain iron) can rust. But nearly
everything oxidizes... striking a match causes rapid oxidation of the
chemicals in the match head.
Experiments involving water and metals should also take into account
that tap water is never pure water (H2O), distilled water (from the
store) is closer. Other chemicals present in tap water can cause
widely varying results in your experiments depending on where in the
world you are and how the water is treated to kill bacteria and other
micro-organisms.
Footnote: Pure water will not cause oxidation (by transfer of
electrons-the chemical process) because PURE water will not conduct
electricity. It takes very little contamination to change this.
Hope this helped.
"common knowledge" is what we assume the everyone else knows
Jim Bus
- Washington C.H., Ohio
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October 26, 2009 i'm a sixth grader searching for an answer! My teacher wanted me to look up distilled water and i am not really sure what contents of distilled water can make metal rust, where am i going to find it, and can it really make metal and copper rust! Also, I had to take out a material for a science fair project because i don't know what type of common items are made of bronze besides statues! Can you help me? Ellesia Turner
October , 2009 Hi, Ellesia. Distilled water is water that has been distilled. What that means is that regular water was put into a pot and boiled away, but the steam that it turned into was captured and cooled and condensed back to water in a fresh clean pot. Any dirt or salt or other contaminants that were in the regular water remained in the original pot, and the distilled water is now pure water. The bronze age preceeded the iron age, so there was a time when all sorts of things were made from bronze: pots and pans, plates, drinking vessels, helmets, shields, swords, tools, coins, and cell phones. Today we have many choices for materials, and there are only a few things where bronze is a likely choice: statuary and knick-knacks, certain kinds of bearings, door hardware like knobs and knockers, cleats on ships, etc. Regards,
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