iceguru1114
Proven Member
- 386
- 295
- Nov 24, 2014
-
Denver,
Colorado
That's a great question, and I didn't know the answer either. I thought this guy gave a good high level explanation of general electrolysis:I’ll ask I’m sure not everyone here knows. How does the electrolysis work exactly Marty?
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There's also a more specific explanation about electrolysis in water and in HCl that goes into more detail about the chemistry taking place in ionic solutions:
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Finally, here's a deep dive into the specific chemistry of electrolysis for rust removal:
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I couldn't find something explicitly running through the chemistry of rust removal using vinegar, but it looks like with Vinegar the cations would still be positively charged hydrogen molecules. Since rust is a layer of Fe_3O_4 molecules, the hydrogen cations are still the key ingredient and react with them to form a ferrous oxide (FeO) whether you're using Vinegar, HCl, or whatever the hell you want. As long as you free up positively charged hydrogen I think the process is about the same from there. Science is fun . I have lots of rusty parts around, so I think I'm going to try this sometime.