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A steel pipe is in contact with a copper pipe in a galvanic couple, with the steel pipe acting as the anode. The corrosion current density of the steel pipe in the couple is 0.008 mA/cm². Determine the rate of corrosion of the steel pipe, assuming that the density of steel is 7.8 g/cm³ and the thickness of the pipe is 2.5 mm. Also, calculate the time taken for the pipe to corrode complet

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To determine the rate of corrosion of the steel pipe, we need to find the mass loss rate due to the corrosion current density. The corrosion current density  i_corr  is given as 0.008 mA/cm. We need to convert this to A/cm:i_corr = 0.008 mA/cm   1 A / 1000 mA  = 8  10^-6  A/cmThe corrosion of steel involves the oxidation of iron  Fe  to form ferrous ions  Fe . The reaction is:Fe  Fe + 2eThe Faraday's constant  F  is 96485 C/mol, which represents the charge of 1 mole of electrons. The molar mass of iron  M_Fe  is 55.85 g/mol. We can now calculate the mass loss rate  R  using the following formula:R =  i_corr  M_Fe  /  2  F R =  8  10^-6  A/cm  55.85 g/mol  /  2  96485 C/mol  = 2.29  10^-6  g/cmsNow, let's calculate the time taken for the pipe to corrode completely. We have the initial mass  m_initial  of the pipe as 5 kg  5000 g . We need to find the surface area  A  of the pipe that is exposed to corrosion. We can use the mass, density   , and thickness  t  of the pipe to find the surface area:Volume  V  = m_initial /  = 5000 g / 7.8 g/cm = 641.03 cmAssuming the pipe is a cylinder, the volume can also be expressed as:V = A  tSo, the surface area  A  is:A = V / t = 641.03 cm / 0.25 cm = 2564.12 cmNow, we can find the total mass loss rate  R_total  by multiplying the mass loss rate per unit area  R  by the surface area  A :R_total = R  A = 2.29  10^-6  g/cms  2564.12 cm = 5.87  10^-3  g/sFinally, we can calculate the time  t_corrode  taken for the pipe to corrode completely:t_corrode = m_initial / R_total = 5000 g / 5.87  10^-3  g/s = 851685.5 sConverting this to days:t_corrode = 851685.5 s   1 day / 86400 s   9.85 daysSo, the rate of corrosion of the steel pipe is 2.29  10^-6  g/cms, and it will take approximately 9.85 days for the pipe to corrode completely.

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