I follow battleship New Jersey on YouTube. One of the recent topics is how the hull around the propellers can corrode more than other areas of the hull. Because of this, the navy installed sacrificial anodes.
Why would a large ship corrode around the propellers more. How to anodes prevent this?
In: Chemistry
The topic is called cathodic protection.
Basically, metals are good at being conductive because they have extra electrons. These extra electrons would much rather be paired off. If an atom with too few electrons like oxygen comes close, the metal might bond with the oxygen. This can happen even if the oxygen is already in another molecule if the energy state is favorable. Oxidized metals are often called “rust”.
So you create conditions where it is energetically favorable for those atoms with too few electrons to bond to something else. Easiest way is to electrically connect a more reactive sacrificial anode to the metal. Zinc is most often used.
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