: Why do large ships need anodes?

836 viewsChemistryOther

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

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Galvanic corrosion is the term you’re after. When you have dissimilar metals submerged in conductive liquid (water in this case), the more reactive metal of the 2 (or more) will have its ions stripped out and cause accelerated corrosion. To combat that ships have an even more reactive metal attached to the ship as an anode, commonly zinc, so that the ions from the zinc get stripped as a sacrificial part instead of the ship itself.

You are viewing 1 out of 10 answers, click here to view all answers.