Why is zinc commonly used to coat steel?

[supasupa]

Why Zinc is so commonly use coat metals such as steel? I know that its a good corrosion resistant metal to use but what properties of zinc make it good to use under normal atmospheric conditions?

Does it have to do with the oxide layer that it forms around it?

 

[Pythagorean]

Why Zinc is so commonly use coat metals such as steel? I know that its a good corrosion resistant metal to use but what properties of zinc make it good to use under normal atmospheric conditions?

Does it have to do with the oxide layer that it forms around it?

what are 'normal' atmospheric conditions?

it's not corrosion resistant, it corrodes in place of whatever you're protecting. For instance, out on fishing boats, we fix a couple zinc bars to the bottom of our skiff so that electrolysis won't corrode the aluminum, but will corrode the zinc bar instead.