400 lb rusty steel door.
Howdy kids! Here's a fun chemistry experiment you can try at home!
If you have a 400 pound steel door—say, from the Titanic—and it's seriously rusty from being submerged in the ocean's depths after an unforeseeable (well, unforeseen anyway) accident with an iceberg, here's how to clean it up!
Soak it in fresh water for, I don't know, weeks? months? until all of the salt has leached off/out of the metal. Hang it from chains in your driveway and power spray all the rust off the surface. Leave it overnight so that it "flash rusts," which means that it develops a thin, uniform layer of rust all over. The next morning, mix a pail of tannic acid* and water. Scrub this mix onto every inch of the door using a big brush whenever possible, and a toothbrush when you need to get into small spaces. The whole mess gets foamy and starts to turn purple-black.
(Here comes the chemistry part!)
Tannic acid reacts with the iron oxide—rust—to form iron tannate. Even though iron tannate turns the steel black, it's way more stable than rust, which means you've essentially halted the corrosion process!
How cool is that?
Now you can rub on a thin coat of wax to make the door look all shiny and new, in a really-old-and-messed-up-from-being-in-the-ocean kind of way!
So take that to your science fair and win a blue ribbon!**
* Tannic acid has a really distinctive smell. It's like a mix between balsalmic vinegar and molasses. Almost yummy in a weird way.
** I'm talking about adult chemicals and processes using cute language just to be funny. Please don't let young people use chemicals without adult supervision. Even adults should only use industrial chemicals with proper training.
If you have a 400 pound steel door—say, from the Titanic—and it's seriously rusty from being submerged in the ocean's depths after an unforeseeable (well, unforeseen anyway) accident with an iceberg, here's how to clean it up!
Soak it in fresh water for, I don't know, weeks? months? until all of the salt has leached off/out of the metal. Hang it from chains in your driveway and power spray all the rust off the surface. Leave it overnight so that it "flash rusts," which means that it develops a thin, uniform layer of rust all over. The next morning, mix a pail of tannic acid* and water. Scrub this mix onto every inch of the door using a big brush whenever possible, and a toothbrush when you need to get into small spaces. The whole mess gets foamy and starts to turn purple-black.
(Here comes the chemistry part!)
Tannic acid reacts with the iron oxide—rust—to form iron tannate. Even though iron tannate turns the steel black, it's way more stable than rust, which means you've essentially halted the corrosion process!
How cool is that?
Now you can rub on a thin coat of wax to make the door look all shiny and new, in a really-old-and-messed-up-from-being-in-the-ocean kind of way!
So take that to your science fair and win a blue ribbon!**
* Tannic acid has a really distinctive smell. It's like a mix between balsalmic vinegar and molasses. Almost yummy in a weird way.
** I'm talking about adult chemicals and processes using cute language just to be funny. Please don't let young people use chemicals without adult supervision. Even adults should only use industrial chemicals with proper training.
posted by Dennis at 12:32 AM
2 Comments:
Tannic acid can be somewhat dangerous to use, especially if it splashes on your skin. I'm sure the method will work, but for some and it is often the case in a commercial setting a safer method of rust removal using a non-acid corrosion remover is preferred.
I have found the rust remover described here: rust remover
to work very well.
It even provides short term corrosion protection and the product is completely biodegradable and safe.
Tannic acid can be somewhat dangerous to use, especially if it splashes on your skin. I'm sure the method will work, but for some and it is often the case in a commercial setting a safer method of rust removal using a non-acid corrosion remover is preferred.
I have found the rust remover described here: rust remover
to work very well.
It even provides short term corrosion protection and the product is completely biodegradable and safe.
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