Compare and describe the rate of corrosion of metals in different acidic and neutral solutions

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Perform a first-hand investigation to compare and describe the rate of corrosion of metals in different acidic and neutral solutions

  • To compare the rate of corrosion of metals in acidic and neutral solutions, undertake the following procedure:
    • Weight triplets of identical samples of both iron and zinc.
    • Half-submerge one piece of iron in a test tube of water, one piece in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid solution, and one piece in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution.
    • Repeat this for the three pieces of zinc.
    • Leave the test tubes for two days under identical conditions.
    • Remove the six pieces of metal and clean them.
    • Reweigh the pieces of metal, and determine the difference between the final mass and the original mass for each.
    • Determine the difference in the mass change between the samples placed in water and those placed in the hydrochloric acid solutions.
  • Through the above procedure, it should be found that the samples submerged in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution have a considerably smaller final mass than the corresponding samples submerged 0.1 M hydrochloric acid solution, which in turn have a considerably smaller final mass than the corresponding samples submerged in water.