Why does steel corrosion rate drop in still water?

  • Thread starter Thread starter supasupa
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Corrosion Steel
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
4 replies · 4K views
supasupa
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Say is a piece of steel is placed in still water and is corroding. Why will the corrosion rate drop away after time??

Is it because the system reaches some sort of equlibrium??
 
Physics news on Phys.org

Discussion

thats ment to say : "Say if a piece of steel..." NOT " Say is a piece..."
 
I believe the layer of corrosion protects it. Corrosion rates are higher in moving water because the corrosion covering is always being washed away.
 
that makes sense... what you are saying is the oxide around the steel (rust) slows down the corossion rate
 
supasupa said:
that makes sense... what you are saying is the oxide around the steel (rust) slows down the corossion rate
That is correct. This is the theory behind anodising aluminium (although aluminum oxide also exhibits excellent thermal insulation properties)