Science Experiment
Wasting Away
You have just bought a brand new mountain bike and decide that it is science experiment time! The question on your mind is “How easy will it be to ride on beach sand?” So you head to the beach for a bit of a cruise along the sand. When you get there, being the clever scientist that you are you deflate the tires a little to increase the surface area so it is easier to ride (
click here
for a science experiment on surface area). After a half hour of hard exercise of riding through the waves you head home again. The next afternoon you take your one day old bike out of the garage to go for another ride on the beach but you notice some reddish stuff on the handle bars. Rust! But it is only on the handle bars??? Your very clever dad advises you to rather go riding at the lake as opposed to the sea. Why? These questions will be answered in this experiment. Let's do science...
The Experiment
The Aim
The find out if different metals rust or corrode faster than others. Equipment Needed 15 test tubes with a test tube rack (if you cannot get hold of test tubes you can use clear drinking glasses).three 15-20 cm long dowel rods or pencils (if you use glasses instead of test tubes you will have to have 15 of either of these – one for each glass).Pure water – this can be made by boiling some water.Salt water
solution
(check out the definition in our online science dictionary) - mix 1 table spoon, or 15 ml, of salt into 1 cup, or 250 ml, of water. If you use glasses instead of test tubes you will need to make more than 250 ml of this solution – but I am sure you would have figured this out!45 cm of different types of wire – examples are silver, steel, zinc, copper, aluminum. You could use any of these or any other metal that you want to test. You are also not limited to 5 metals. Method Label each test tube (or glass) with what wire you will tested in them. You will have 3 tubes for each metal, one with salt solution, one with pure water (these are the experiments) and one with nothing in it (this is the control).Fill 5 of the test tubes with the salt solution, 5 with the pure water and leave the other 5 empty.Cut the wires into three 15 cm long pieces. Use one piece of each of the wires for the control and two for the experiments. Wrap one end of each of the wires around the dowel rod or pencil and space the different wires apart enough so that they will hang into separate test tubes once the dowel rod is balanced on top of the row of tubes.Once set up, you should have 3 rows of tubes (or glasses), the controls, the salt water experiment, and the pure water experiment, each with a different wire hanging in them.Over the next 10 days make notes of any changes noticed in the appearance of the wires. Use your
Logbook
for these observations. Results and ConclusionsThese will depend on what metals you decide to use. Note the differences (if any) between the salt water and pure water experiments for each metal as well as the overall differences in corrosion between the metals. I am sure you will be able to observe the results from your science experiment and make conclusions without me having to tell you!
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