Foundation I Science
Week 18: Lesson 18.3
Experiment 18.3 Rusting Nails
Aim: To determine the factors that affect the rusting of iron.
What We Already Know:
Rusting happens when iron materials get wet and are exposed to air for a long time. Several
factors can make rusting happen faster. First, the presence of salt can speed up the rusting
process; that is why things rust faster near the sea. Second, when the air is more humid, or has
a lot of water in it, rusting can happen quicker. It is important to understand what factors affect
rusting – to protect iron materials, as rust can weaken them over time.
Materials
• Iron nails
• 4 small glass jars (the rust will damage the glass of your test tubes, so it is best to use a glass
jar)
• Water (and a kettle)
• Salt
• Calcium chloride (a desiccant)
• Oil (vegetable or mineral)
• A pair of gloves
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Method
1. Jar A: In the first jar, add a nail and add water to the jar so that the nail is half covered with
water. Screw the lid on the jar. This setup will show us if water and oxygen are required for
iron to rust.
2. Jar B: In the second jar, add boiled water so that the nail is covered. Then add a 1 cm thick
layer of oil to the water. Boiling the water removes any oxygen that was dissolved in the
water. The layer of oil will prevent oxygen from entering the water. This ensures that the nail
does not come into any contact with oxygen. This setup will determine if oxygen is required
for iron to rust.
3. Jar C: In the third beaker, place a nail and add a packet of calcium chloride. This setup aims to
see if the removal of moisture through a desiccant proves that water is required for rusting
to take place.
This diagram shows the setup in test tubes. Yours will look similar, but rather with glass
jars.
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Foundation I Science
4. Jar 4: We are going to set up a fourth jar as well to determine if salt does indeed affect the
rate of rusting.
Observations:
Every day for a week, write down what you observe in each jar.
Jar A Jar B Jar C Jar D (Water, Air
Day
(Water and Air) (Water Only) (Air Only) and Salt)
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Foundation I Science
Conclusion:
Analyse your data (observations) and give a conclusion.
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