The aim of the experiment I did was based on the corrosion of iron gun nails in 5 different liquids. The hypothesis was that objects with a higher iron content would rust the fastest and the most in an oxygen-abundant, humid atmosphere
The materials needed were:
-10 plastic cups
-2 trays
-20 nails
-blu-tak
-oil
-white vinegar
-salt water
-tap water
-methylated spirits
2 trials were undertaken. 5 cups were used for each trial with 2 nails in each cup. the cups were labelled accordingly, with the name of the liquid and trial number. In each cup, there was one nail fully submerged, and another nail in the same cup immersed in the liquid. (half in, half out).
The nails were then left for a total of 7 days for each trial and then the results and observations of discolouration and corrosion were recorded in a table.
I found that the vinegar was the most effective liquid out of the 5 tested, that corroded the iron gun nails the fastest and the most. All the immersed nails were found to be more corroded than the fully submerged nails. Also, the methylated spirits, being a spirit, evaporated before the full 7 days, so the result for the methylated spirits was not as accurate as I would have wanted it to be.
The immersed nails in white vinegar most likely corroded more as vinegar is high in oxygen and being immersed, the nail was exposed to a more humid, oxygen-rich environment, which hastens the corrosion, expecially on iron.
Iron is the strongest and most abundant element and by finding a way to prevent this corrosion in iron in its pure form will contribute to both the scientific and economic world. Using iron in its pure form without it rusting over time is best as it is strogner than any compound which may have iron particles in it.
Overall, the experiment took 14 days to complete the 2 trials and my room smelt like nail polish mixed with salt and vinegar chips. This was not good at all, although I did learn a great deal by doing this experiment.
Next time I do something like this, I will definitely be much mre organised as I now know what it is like to undergo and officially compelte an SRP.
Until next time, ta.
June 16, 2010
June 12, 2010
Experiment Set-up
This is my experiment set-up.
TRIAL 1
TRIAL 2
They're identical! The two trays are set-up in my room on my table, which is so messy as you can see, and the tray helps prevent me from knocking the cups over and spilling the liquid on my table.
New addition!!
I forgot to mentio previously that I am not using 20 nails in total for the 2 trials, instead of the previous idea of using 10.
I'm using 10 nails for each trial; one submerged and one emerged, because it would provide me with more accurate results and a wider range of results so that I can make conclusions more easily with evidence. Therefore, the aim of my experiment has altered a bit. The aim of my experiment is "To observe whether iron gun nails rust faster submerged or emerged in liquid, and in what liquids."
I'm using 10 nails for each trial; one submerged and one emerged, because it would provide me with more accurate results and a wider range of results so that I can make conclusions more easily with evidence. Therefore, the aim of my experiment has altered a bit. The aim of my experiment is "To observe whether iron gun nails rust faster submerged or emerged in liquid, and in what liquids."
Results
I have completed two trials of my experiment. So far, the results are uniform across the two trials. In each cup for each trial, there were two nails. One nail was submerged in the liquid and the other was exposed to the air. In both trials, the nail exposed to the air rusted more and rusted faster.
I left the two trials to sit for 7 days exactly and vinegar was the liquid to show the most pocitive and the most signs of discolouration and rusting. In this experiment, I used white vinegar and by the third day, the white vinegar had turned an off-orange due to the rust of the nail.
I used 5 liquids; vinegar, tap water, salt water, methylated spirits and canola oil. The liquid which had the least effect on the rusting of the iron gun nail was the canola oil. Being a spirit, the methylated spirits began to evaporate by the third day. It completely evaporated by Day 6.
I left the two trials to sit for 7 days exactly and vinegar was the liquid to show the most pocitive and the most signs of discolouration and rusting. In this experiment, I used white vinegar and by the third day, the white vinegar had turned an off-orange due to the rust of the nail.
I used 5 liquids; vinegar, tap water, salt water, methylated spirits and canola oil. The liquid which had the least effect on the rusting of the iron gun nail was the canola oil. Being a spirit, the methylated spirits began to evaporate by the third day. It completely evaporated by Day 6.
May 12, 2010
Methods and materials
My methods and materials are:
1) Obtain the following equipment:
-5 plastic cups
-100ml non-medical methylated spirits
-100ml vinegar from the kitchen
-100ml salt water
-100ml plain water from the kitchen tap
-100ml olive oil
-5 identical iron nails
-1 tray to hold utensils on
2) Pour each of the 5 liquids into a plastic cup
3) Place an iron nail in each cup
4) Place cups on tray in a shaded room-temperature environment
5) Observe any changes during a period of 3 weeks
6) Record an observations made
7) Repeat steps 1-5 to ensure a fair experiment is undergone
8) Clean up?
I'm not too sure whether leaving them in the sun or shade makes a difference to the rate at which the iron nails will rust but as far as I know and think, I don't belive so. However, I will attempt to keep the tray in a shaded room-temperature environment as much as possible.
1) Obtain the following equipment:
-5 plastic cups
-100ml non-medical methylated spirits
-100ml vinegar from the kitchen
-100ml salt water
-100ml plain water from the kitchen tap
-100ml olive oil
-5 identical iron nails
-1 tray to hold utensils on
2) Pour each of the 5 liquids into a plastic cup
3) Place an iron nail in each cup
4) Place cups on tray in a shaded room-temperature environment
5) Observe any changes during a period of 3 weeks
6) Record an observations made
7) Repeat steps 1-5 to ensure a fair experiment is undergone
8) Clean up?
I'm not too sure whether leaving them in the sun or shade makes a difference to the rate at which the iron nails will rust but as far as I know and think, I don't belive so. However, I will attempt to keep the tray in a shaded room-temperature environment as much as possible.
May 10, 2010
;|
It's been 41 days since my last post -_-. During that time, I've set up my experiment 4 times. Something just has to happen...
1st Mum poured out the liquids accidentally down the sink because she didn't know
I had SRP.
2nd The tray was on my glass table and my elbow knocked my laptop case which
knocked the tray. All liquids besides the oil were soaked up by my rug. Cups
broken.
3rd Dad soon realised he gave me different types of nails though they looked the
same.
4th Currently undergoing! Hope all goes well...Now using clear plastic cups and
all iron nails =D
The longest attempt I have undergone was my 2nd attempt at the experiment. If my table wasn't messy, the experiment would have survived...During that attempt, I did not notice any discolouration or changes to the nail.
1st Mum poured out the liquids accidentally down the sink because she didn't know
I had SRP.
2nd The tray was on my glass table and my elbow knocked my laptop case which
knocked the tray. All liquids besides the oil were soaked up by my rug. Cups
broken.
3rd Dad soon realised he gave me different types of nails though they looked the
same.
4th Currently undergoing! Hope all goes well...Now using clear plastic cups and
all iron nails =D
The longest attempt I have undergone was my 2nd attempt at the experiment. If my table wasn't messy, the experiment would have survived...During that attempt, I did not notice any discolouration or changes to the nail.
March 30, 2010
it's a yes!
Ok so recently Ms Zhang gave me a 'yes' so I'm going to stick to what I've been thinking about for SRP for the past who knows how long time ago. Okey dokey. so here's what I'm officially going to do for the time being.
Experiment: Various liquids v.s an iron nail.
Aim: To hopefully conclude which liquids rust an iron nail and if so, which is quicker/quickest at doing so.
Apparatus: ~5 iron nails
~5 teacups
~5 different types of liquid
~1 tray to hold teacups in
In this experiment, I have chosen to use:
IRON NAILS - because my dad has bucketfuls in his little shed
TEACUPS - because my mum likes coffee now and that they are ceramic
TRAY - to make sure that if there IS any spillage of liquids, it doesn't go onto my lovely table
When I conduct my experiment, I will be keeping the cups of various liquids with iron nails in them on my table, which is a suitabe place because I got there everyday. I mean, who doesn't? And so that no-one touches it and so that I will be able to keep a close eye on and observe any unexpected changes/explosions/popping phenomena/whatever will happen but hopefully wont etc.
At the moment, I'm still trying to grasp an understanding on what is dependent and what is independent. So I am controlling the time in which I will be leaving the iron nails in liquid so every nail spends the same amount of time in each liquid under the same room temperature and conditions. If one of the cups fall down and break or whatever, I will start the whole experiment again because then it won't be a fair test because the other nails would have had a longer time bathing in the liquid.
I am observing and therefore will no be able to control, the amount of rust, the rate of rust and the time in which the rust will appear, on each of the iron nails.
Something I will keep consistent in this experiment will be the type, shape and size of the iron nail. Of course, they will all be iron and they will all be from the same company, in case other iron nail brands aren't made from iron??? Who knows...
And I will also be pouring the same amount of liquid in each teacup so that one nail doesn't just rust because the cup is overflowing or something.
Also, I'll try not to place one side of the tray in sunlight while the other side is suffering in the cold darkness of my room. It's either that the whole tray is fully exposed to sunlight or it is kept in complete darkness. I'm not sure whether this will even have any effect on my experiment and what I'm testing but just to be on the safe side, I will attempt to guard the iron nails from the sun. Haha.
I'm going to leave the nails for some amount of time before concluding my entire experiment, but one thing I will definitely be doing is recording down any changes or no changes :( as to whatever happens to the nails. I will be most likely be doing this daily. Or for every three days because by the time I actually get to this experiment, I might find something else to occupy my time. What if there's something on TV? Who knows...who knows....Yeah. So I'm guessing that a checkup every three days aint so bad so that's what I going to do. I think it's also good to take pictures so I have visual evidence in case I have dodgy descriptions of things which is most likely so I'm going to take pictures definitely. Oh great. I'm going to take pictures of iron nails in teacups. Charming...
So that's all I've got time for at the moment, or can think of as for now, so until next time!
Experiment: Various liquids v.s an iron nail.
Aim: To hopefully conclude which liquids rust an iron nail and if so, which is quicker/quickest at doing so.
Apparatus: ~5 iron nails
~5 teacups
~5 different types of liquid
~1 tray to hold teacups in
In this experiment, I have chosen to use:
IRON NAILS - because my dad has bucketfuls in his little shed
TEACUPS - because my mum likes coffee now and that they are ceramic
TRAY - to make sure that if there IS any spillage of liquids, it doesn't go onto my lovely table
When I conduct my experiment, I will be keeping the cups of various liquids with iron nails in them on my table, which is a suitabe place because I got there everyday. I mean, who doesn't? And so that no-one touches it and so that I will be able to keep a close eye on and observe any unexpected changes/explosions/popping phenomena/whatever will happen but hopefully wont etc.
At the moment, I'm still trying to grasp an understanding on what is dependent and what is independent. So I am controlling the time in which I will be leaving the iron nails in liquid so every nail spends the same amount of time in each liquid under the same room temperature and conditions. If one of the cups fall down and break or whatever, I will start the whole experiment again because then it won't be a fair test because the other nails would have had a longer time bathing in the liquid.
I am observing and therefore will no be able to control, the amount of rust, the rate of rust and the time in which the rust will appear, on each of the iron nails.
Something I will keep consistent in this experiment will be the type, shape and size of the iron nail. Of course, they will all be iron and they will all be from the same company, in case other iron nail brands aren't made from iron??? Who knows...
And I will also be pouring the same amount of liquid in each teacup so that one nail doesn't just rust because the cup is overflowing or something.
Also, I'll try not to place one side of the tray in sunlight while the other side is suffering in the cold darkness of my room. It's either that the whole tray is fully exposed to sunlight or it is kept in complete darkness. I'm not sure whether this will even have any effect on my experiment and what I'm testing but just to be on the safe side, I will attempt to guard the iron nails from the sun. Haha.
I'm going to leave the nails for some amount of time before concluding my entire experiment, but one thing I will definitely be doing is recording down any changes or no changes :( as to whatever happens to the nails. I will be most likely be doing this daily. Or for every three days because by the time I actually get to this experiment, I might find something else to occupy my time. What if there's something on TV? Who knows...who knows....Yeah. So I'm guessing that a checkup every three days aint so bad so that's what I going to do. I think it's also good to take pictures so I have visual evidence in case I have dodgy descriptions of things which is most likely so I'm going to take pictures definitely. Oh great. I'm going to take pictures of iron nails in teacups. Charming...
So that's all I've got time for at the moment, or can think of as for now, so until next time!
March 11, 2010
A more structured idea
My experiement will most likely be based on 'which liquids rust an iron nail fastest/faster'.
The depdendent variable will be the iron nail. The independent variable will be the types of liquids (such as water, salt water, oil, vinegar and methylated spirits).
I will be placing an iron nail into cups of liquids (most likely my mum's teacups), and placing them to rest to observe how fast they rust etc.
SO until next time! More ideas will follow...=]
The depdendent variable will be the iron nail. The independent variable will be the types of liquids (such as water, salt water, oil, vinegar and methylated spirits).
I will be placing an iron nail into cups of liquids (most likely my mum's teacups), and placing them to rest to observe how fast they rust etc.
SO until next time! More ideas will follow...=]
March 6, 2010
New idea!!!!
Ok. In my previous post, I mentioned that I would do an experiment on how fast water soaks into different types of paper. Thinking about it now, it would be hard to measure the rate at which the water is getting soaked up.
Which is why I have brainstormed another idea! I am positive that this experiment will provide accurate results and is easier to measure and make a definite conclusion.
I'm going to base my experiment on the rate at which an iron nail rusts in different liquids. These liquids will most likely be water, salt water, oil, vinegar and methylated spirits. Actually, 'which liquid rusts an iron nail fastest'. I currently do no know how long this experiment will take...along with the repeats for a fair test.
But I will post more updates soon as I gather my ideas...
Which is why I have brainstormed another idea! I am positive that this experiment will provide accurate results and is easier to measure and make a definite conclusion.
I'm going to base my experiment on the rate at which an iron nail rusts in different liquids. These liquids will most likely be water, salt water, oil, vinegar and methylated spirits. Actually, 'which liquid rusts an iron nail fastest'. I currently do no know how long this experiment will take...along with the repeats for a fair test.
But I will post more updates soon as I gather my ideas...
February 17, 2010
Yr 9 rotation topics test
Today Yr 10 had to sit through a gruelling 70 minutes (I think) completing a science test based entirely on what we did last year. It was ok though because it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. So no one is really stressing about anything anymore. Right?
I have an SRP lesson tomorrow. For my SRP, I'm still thinking along the line of an experiment to do with liquid. Somehow, I will incorporate something interesting into it, because liquid itself is pretty boring.
Hopefully, I can make it interesting! (fingers crossed) Maybe I can put something into the water? Like, which types of paper soak more water during a set time period? As in recycled paper, white paper, crumpled? paper, tissue paper, toilet paper, torn paper, photo paper, cardboard(paper?), newspaper, wrapping paper, wallpaper, magnetic paper, paper with glue stuck on it???...what other kinds of paper are there?
I'm positive there are heaps more.
But with the experiment, I will of course limit the number of variables. It makes it less confusing for myself!
I have an SRP lesson tomorrow. For my SRP, I'm still thinking along the line of an experiment to do with liquid. Somehow, I will incorporate something interesting into it, because liquid itself is pretty boring.
Hopefully, I can make it interesting! (fingers crossed) Maybe I can put something into the water? Like, which types of paper soak more water during a set time period? As in recycled paper, white paper, crumpled? paper, tissue paper, toilet paper, torn paper, photo paper, cardboard(paper?), newspaper, wrapping paper, wallpaper, magnetic paper, paper with glue stuck on it???...what other kinds of paper are there?
I'm positive there are heaps more.
But with the experiment, I will of course limit the number of variables. It makes it less confusing for myself!
February 12, 2010
oooooh! wait!!!
did i say that this blog is for srp? well it is so now you know!
this blog will take you through my srp project for school and what im going to do about it and what the results are. and hopefully, it would turn out aallll good!
this blog will take you through my srp project for school and what im going to do about it and what the results are. and hopefully, it would turn out aallll good!
today
today was swimming carnival so i think my srp will be on water and chlorine and grass or something hot.
when i got off the train at chester hill, it started to hail. so my srp will be on hail. maybe.
i will think about it. but maybe something to do with hail and water and ice and liquid and water and chlorine.
i am still deciding...hmmm
when i got off the train at chester hill, it started to hail. so my srp will be on hail. maybe.
i will think about it. but maybe something to do with hail and water and ice and liquid and water and chlorine.
i am still deciding...hmmm
February 11, 2010
it is hot
This blog will be dedicated to the grreat! world of science and everything else that follows. Sooo....if you LOVE science, um, read my blog.
I still have not yet decided what I want to do for my SRP. But when I do, I will tell you. I am still thinking about it. But when I think of it, I will tell you :)
I still have not yet decided what I want to do for my SRP. But when I do, I will tell you. I am still thinking about it. But when I think of it, I will tell you :)
