Muza

All metals combine with oxygen, but there are some which will not oxidize in contact with the air, even though rust in the name given for the oxidization of iron. Strangely enough, pure iron is one of the metals that will not rust. Other metals that will not rust are gold, silver, platinum, nickel, chromium, zinc, aluminium, manganese and antimony, for a long time people believed that rust, ‘the rat that eats steel’ was a kind of burning caused by the presence of oxygen in the air. However, today we know that it is not just oxygen and water that leads to rusting. An impurity such carbon dioxide in the air or carbon in the metal combines with the moisture in the air to generate electricity. This electrified solution dissolves the iron as electrified atoms (smallest units of matter which can enter into chemical combinations) which are then decomposed (separated into elements) by the oxygen. Even if protective coatings such as tin, nickel and zinc have been used on the iron, the smallest unprotected ‘pinhole’ is sufficient to start the process of rusting.