Question
What happens during corrosion of a metal? State the electrochemical basis of corrosion of iron.
Solution
Answer:
Corrosion slowly coats the surfaces of metallic objects with oxides or other salts of the metal.

Iron in contact with the dissolved CO2 and O2 undergoes oxidation as follows:
Fe → Fe2+ + 2e– E°oxidation = + 0.44 V
The elctrons lost by iron are taken up by the H+ ions present on the surface of the metal which were produced by the dissociation of H2CO3 and H2O.
