Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,
My son has chose to do his grade 6 science far project on what cleans rust nails best...CLR,Coca Cola or Vinegar. We understand how to do the project but are having trouble finding anywhere for background information. We can find lots of info on what makes nails rust but not cleaning them. I'm hoping may be someone can point us in the right direction to some websites,books or anything else that we could find information. Thank you!

Hi KAH152511,

You might try looking for information about the chemical reactions involved. I'm not sure what's in CLR cleaner. But colas contain phosphoric acid and vinegar contains acetic acid. Either of these acids will react with iron oxides (rust). The reactions can remove rust but they can also re-oxidize the metal.

The following articles have some information about phosphoric acid reactions with iron oxides:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_converter

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2015/250836/

There is a Science Buddies project aimed at studying effects of acidity on how quickly rust forms. The background information from this project may be of interest to you.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman