How to Prevent Rusting

how can you slow the corrosion of steel wool.
- jourdan (age 13)
sydney,nsw,australia

Rust forms when the iron in that steel combines with oxygen from the air to make iron oxides. That reaction happens a lot faster when there' some water present. So one way to slow rusting would be to dry the steel wool after every use, and then store it in a cool dry place. I'm going to guess that the steel wool's manufacturer does not want it to last all that long in the first place, but this should extend the life of it beyond the average user's findings.

Hope this helps!

Chris F

I suppose you could do even fancier things such as store the steel wool under oil or in CO₂ to keep air away from it. Probably that wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Mike W.

(published on 04/09/2011)