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Iron/Rust in a container

When iron is sealed in a container and it rusts, will it weigh the same?

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Answer #1

Will WHAT weigh the same - the piece of iron or the sealed container. And WHAT is doing the rusting. When you are dealing with science you have to be precise.

I can think of several concepts in science that could be illustrated depending on your answer to the above two questions.

Answer #2

When the iron rusts, will it weigh the same?

Answer #3

…mmmehhh?? How can it rust, if its in a sealed container?

Answer #4

It won’t rust, because it will run out of air.

Iron is iron and rust is iron oxide. Iron oxide weighs more than iron, but that oxygen has to come from somewhere. Basically the oxygen will move from the air to the iron so the iron/rust will weigh more but the air inside the container will weigh less. The total weight will stay the same, because the moving oxygen stays inside the container. But obviously the oxygen in the air isn’t that heavy and it will hardly make any rust at all.

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