Tag: Iron

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Protecting Iron Nails from Rust

Protecting Iron Nails from Rust

Rust is an iron oxide, a usually red oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are distinguishable both visually and by spectroscopy, and form under different circumstances.

Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass will eventually convert entirely to rust and disintegrate. Surface rust is flaky and friable, and it provides no protection to the underlying iron, unlike the formation of patina on copper surfaces. Rusting is the common term for corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel. Many other metals undergo similar corrosion, but the resulting oxides are not commonly called rust.

Rust is another name for iron oxide, which occurs when iron or an alloy that contains iron, like steel, is exposed to oxygen and moisture for a long period of time. Over time, the oxygen combines with the metal at an atomic level, forming a new compound called an oxide and weakening the bonds of the metal itself. Although some people refer to rust generally as “oxidation”, that term is much more general; although rust forms when iron undergoes oxidation, not all oxidation forms rust. Only iron or alloys that contain iron can rust, but other metals can corrode in similar ways.

The main catalyst for the rusting process is water. Iron or steel structures might appear to be solid, but water molecules can penetrate the microscopic pits and cracks in any exposed metal. The hydrogen atoms present in water molecules can combine with other elements to form acids, which will eventually cause more metal to be exposed. If chloride ions are present, as is the case with saltwater, the corrosion is likely to occur more quickly. Meanwhile, the oxygen atoms combine with metallic atoms to form the destructive oxide compound. As the atoms combine, they weaken the metal, making the structure brittle and crumbly.

So here are the iron nails that I’m going to be using for the experiment.

One nail is covered in glue, the other is covered in WD-40 (if you don’t know what that is: it’s a penetrating oil and water-displacing spray). And the last one is covered in aluminum foil.

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And I put them in cups of water and waited for 24 hours.

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22 Hours Later: 

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I was really suprised that everyone one of them worked. The nail that was covered in Aluminum foil was completly dry. As you could see I used the method of stopping the water to touch the iron and it worked so well.

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I Found the Answer

I Found the Answer

Finally, I found what this is:

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I cracked one of the tiny stones and the inside was black:

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I guess the color has been covered by some other minerals or the color on the outside has been changed from weathering. Remember, the color of magnetite is always black.

Also, I did the streak test. The “streak test” is a method used to determine the color of a mineral in powdered form. The color of a mineral’s powder is often a very important for identifying the mineral. The streak test is done by scraping a specimen of the mineral across a piece of unglazed porcelain known as a streak plate. I don’t have a streak plate so I used a scalpel to scratch it and the dust is black. The color of the dust must be black as well.

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Today, magnetite is mined as iron, that means I can claim that this is iron.

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Well, another mineral is added to my collection. Just a couple more to go and this collection will be finished.

 

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Is this Iron or Magnetite?

Is this Iron or Magnetite?

Today I wanted to identify this brown dust. I found the dust by me. I accidentally dropped a magnet on the ground and the dust sticks to the magnet. So I collected it to perform some experiments with it. So in this post, I’m going to identify this dust. Let’s perform some tests.

This dust could be two things:

Magnetite: Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores. It is one of the oxides of iron. Magnetite is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. It is the most magnetic of all the naturally-occurring minerals on Earth. Naturally-magnetized pieces of magnetite, called lodestone, will attract small pieces of iron, which is how ancient peoples first discovered the property of magnetism.

Magnetite is very easy to identify. It is one of just a few minerals that are attracted to a common magnet. It is a black, opaque, sub metallic to a metallic mineral with a Mohs hardness between 5 and 6.5. It is often found in the form of isometric crystals.

But magnetite is brown and my dust is brown…

Iron: Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen and water. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust.

My dust is brown, so it be iron.

The dust has tiny chunks of stone in there too.

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1. Magnet Test:

I used a rare earth magnet to see if it attracts. Of course, that’s how I found it. This could mean that it’s iron or magnetite.

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2. Iron Test:

I poured the Dust onto a Petri dish. And I mixed a chain of paper clips in there. And it turns out that tiny pieces of the dust are on the paper clips. This probably means that the dust is magnetite.

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I tried to make the tiny stones stick onto the paper clips but didn’t work.

3. Reacting to Magnet Test:

When I used the forceps to carry a piece of tiny stone onto a piece of paper, some of the dust is sticking onto the stone! 20170731_203351

Let’s ignore that for now.

I wrapped a magnet in a plastic bag, in case the dust sticks on it (you wouldn’t be able to take the dust of the magnet. If you take off the plastic bag, the dust will come off).

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I took the north pole of the magnet and hover it over the small stone. The dust on the stone is attracting to the magnet, but some of them don’t. When I used the south pole of the magnet, the dust that isn’t attracting to the north pole is attracting to the south pole.

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After all of these tests, I think the dust is tiny pieces of magnetite. But I’m not sure, because magnetite is black. My final answer is: I don’t know… Scientists shouldn’t publish the results when they’re not sure. And that’s why my answer is I don’t know.

I’ll need to do some more tests with it to make sure…

What do you think it is? Let me know in the comment section↓

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetite

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=how+to+identify+magnetite&rlz=1C1CHBD_enTH751TH751&oq=how+&aqs=chrome.1.69i59l3j69i57j69i60l2.3385j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=what+color+is+iron&rlz=1C1CHBD_enTH751TH751&oq=what+color+is+iron&aqs=chrome..69i57.8591j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

 

 

 

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Changing Iron to Copper

Changing Iron to Copper

In this post, I’m going to show you how to change iron to copper in two easy steps.

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That’s not rust

 

Things you’ll need: copper (II) sulfate, a cup, a spoon, water, and nails or paper clips.

  1. Pour water into the cup.20170619_105233
  2. Put lots of copper sulfate into the cup. I put two spoons.20170618_200525
  3. Drop a paper clip or a nail into the solution.
  4. Wait for 24 hours, and take the paper clip/nail out of the cup. Be careful not to leave it too long in the cup, or else the metal will rust. (Wait for one day after you take the metal out of the solution).

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    You can’t see the copper very well because of the shadow
   In Discorso, one of the last manuscripts written by Antonio Neri before his death, he reveals several transmutation recipes. One describes turning iron into copper; it is instructive because it uses common materials that we can identify and because the chemistry is now well understood.
Take some iron sheets and lay them in vitriol water, being immersed in that, they will rust. Scrape off this rust, which will be a red powder, melt it in a crucible, and you will have perfect copper. The same effect can be had from various waters that are naturally vitriolated, because they flow through mines of vitriol, such as those of a source some distance from Leiden, and another below the fortress of Smolnik, [now in Slovakia].
Vitriol is an acidic sulfate dissolved in water, it could be made in the laboratory, but it also occurred naturally around mining operations where sulfurous minerals were present. Alchemists knew this solution as “oil of vitriol” and “spirit of vitriol.” The mine that Neri references in Smolnik became famous for transmutation. As late as the eighteenth century, scientists and experimenters from around Europe made the pilgrimage to see the effect for themselves and tried to figure out what was happening. It may be a surprise to some readers, but following the above instructions will, in fact, produce copper just as Neri claimed. There is no deception or sleight of hand involved; the explanation is straightforward, but first, Neri treats us to a rare glimpse of his own reasoning on the subject:
Some estimate and not without reason, that this experiment, being used to prove the transmutation of metals, is not suitable for this purpose. They say that the vitriolated waters become such because they are already heavy with the corrosive spirits of sulfur, having passed through the copper or iron mine, these waters corrode copper in the same way aqua fortis corrodes silver. So that really the substance of the copper remains in the water, which attacks the surface of the iron, which always remains iron. However, if that were true then the iron would not get consumed, or if it were consumed it would mix with the substance of the corroded copper in the water, and if it were fused, it would remain a mixture of iron and copper. And yet in this experiment, all the iron is consumed; it is reduced by the vitriolated water into powder, […] which in the fusion is still pure copper, so there should remain no doubt that this is a true transmutation.
Given the state of chemistry at the time, Neri’s reasoning is clear and rational. The iron disappears and a copper coating materializes in its place. What better evidence of transmutation could one ask for?
The key to what was actually happening is in the criticism leveled by skeptics. It turns out that they were on the right track, but neither they nor Neri had the full picture. Today, we understand it as a simple ion exchange reaction; blue vitriol water is a transparent saturated solution of copper sulfate (CuSO4), in the presence of solid iron, the liquid dissolves the iron; copper from the vitriol is deposited in its place. The two metals, copper and iron, change places: the iron dissolves, forming green vitriol (FeSO4) and copper is expelled from the solution. The result is a reduction in the amount of the iron, which is replaced by a proportional deposit of pure copper.
On a physical level, this chemical reaction is no different today than it was in the seventeenth century. What has changed is our interpretation of the experiment. What Neri viewed as a transformation of iron into copper, we now see as an exchange. There is, however, a deeper lesson in all this. As an alchemist, Antonio Neri was not being delusional or dishonest; he was careful, observant and applied his knowledge as best he could. This is no different from the way science works today. Both then and now, to be successful in unraveling nature’s secrets, one must become accustomed to a very uncomfortable situation: In the past, careful reasoning by brilliant thinkers has led to utterly wrong conclusions. The fact that much of our world is a mystery is unsettling; that the very process we use to understand it can be so flawed is harder to accept. Even more difficult is that the faculty we all rely on for survival—our own wits—can lead us so far astray.
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