Question

What is the corrosion rate of a steel bar in a 1 M solution of sulfuric acid at 25°C, if the bar surface area is 50 cm² and the weight loss of the bar after 24 hours of immersion in the acid is found to be 2.1 grams?

Answer 1

To calculate the corrosion rate of the steel bar, we will use the following formula:Corrosion Rate  CR  =  Weight Loss  K  /  Surface Area  Time  Density Where:Weight Loss = 2.1 gramsK = Constant  3.45 x 10^6 for the units we are using Surface Area = 50 cmTime = 24 hoursDensity of steel = 7.85 g/cm  approximate value, as it can vary depending on the specific steel alloy First, let's convert the time from hours to seconds, as the constant K is given for seconds:Time = 24 hours  3600 seconds/hour = 86400 secondsNow, we can plug the values into the formula:CR =  2.1 g  3.45 x 10^6  /  50 cm  86400 s  7.85 g/cm CR =  7.245 x 10^6  /  34680000 CR = 0.2089 mm/yearThe corrosion rate of the steel bar in a 1 M solution of sulfuric acid at 25C is approximately 0.2089 mm/year.