Why is the mass of a rusted nail greater then the mass of the nail before it rusted?

Answer 1

The nail is iron. Rust is a chemical reaction.

4Fe + 3O2 --> 2Fe2O3

When the nail rusts it becomes chemically bonded to oxygen. This combination is heavier than just iron. Therefore, it gains mass.

Answer 2

When a nail rusts, iron in the nail reacts with oxygen in the air to form iron oxide (rust), which adds to the total mass. The rust has a greater volume than the original iron, which contributes to the increase in mass. Additionally, the rust formed usually contains water molecules that were not present in the original nail, further adding to the mass.

Answer 3

The mass of a rusted nail would be greater than the nail was before it was rusted because oxidation causes growth on the outside of the object. The rusting process causes puckers to form on top of an object before it is totally eaten away.

Answer 4

Rust is iron oxide, a molecule consisting of iron and oxygen. The mass of the iron in the rust molecules comes from the original nail, but the mass of the oxygen has come from the air. When rust forms on iron, the mass of the iron object is increased by the mass of the oxygen that has combined with some of the iron

Answer 5

When a nail rusts, it reacts with its environment to create rust (Fe2O3). The Oxygen wasn't part of the nail before the rusting occured, but it is afterwards. So the added oxygen is responsible for the change in mass.

Answer 6

Short Answer: The additional mass of a rusted nail comes from oxygen in the air reacting with iron in the nail to form rust.

First, let's assume that the nail is made of steel, which is about 97-98% iron and <1-1.5% carbon. Steel contains various small amounts of other elements like phosphorus, manganese, silicon and sulfur.

Steel rusts when the iron is oxidized to hematite, or Fe2O3. The Atomic Mass of iron is 55.8 u, but the molecular weight of hematite is 160 u. Therefore, for every iron atom that oxidizes, the mass of the nail increases by [160 - (2 x 55.8)]/2 = 24.2 u. In other terms, if the entire nail were oxidized, then the weight of the nail would increase by about 43% depending on exactly how much iron is in the nail.

Answer 7

Because you changed it's chemical form now there is another substance on the nail. Rust has a mass right. So you add the mass of the nail to the mass of the rust & your answer is larger than just the mass of the nail. I wouldn't go into how the rust got o the nail or what chemicals make the rust because you didn't ask that. i hope this answers your question.

P.S. I surprized you didn't know that

Answer 8

it is very simple actually because believe it or not rust has its own mass and after the nail rusts its mass increases

Answer 9

because the rust adds an extra layer thusfore a bigger mass.

Answer 10

The nail is almost pure iron. After rusting it has become iron oxide. The iron is still there, but now it has oxygen as well so it is heavier.