What causes Corrosion?

What Causes Corrosion

Corrosion is caused by the reaction of a metal with the environment; a typical example of corrosion is the red rust on iron.

Rust is made of different iron oxides like Fe2O3, Fe3O4 that form due to the reaction of Oxygen dissolved in water with Iron:

2Fe + O2 + 2H2O -----> 2Fe(OH)2

Fe(OH)2 is unstable in oxygenated solution and reacts:

2Fe(OH)2 + H2O + 1/2O2 -----> 2Fe(OH)3

The final products is the red rust.

see also:

what is corrosion

what is rust

what causes rust

corrosion types