How does acidic liquids affect carpenter nails?

ineed this for science fair!!! plz help me...





i am using water,salt water, vinegar,and orange juice. i need to know what kind of affects happens when you would leave them sitting in there for like 2+ weeksHow does acidic liquids affect carpenter nails?
Assuming that ';carpenter nails'; are steel nails then the most immediate changes will be due to the iron rusting.





The initial reaction in the rusting process (an example of oxidation) is:


2Fe(s) + 4H+(aq) + O2(aq) = 2Fe2+ + 2H2O(l)





The key points to note are that (1) there needs to be a source of hydrogen ions present, e.g. an acidic environment, and (2) oxygen needs to be dissolved in the solution.





The equations leading to rust can get complex depending on the pH of solution and presence of other ions. However, essentially the Fe2+ species in the above equation react further with H+ and OH- ions to produce hydroxides of iron: Fe(OH)2 amd Fe(OH)3, which eventually produce the familiar rusty red iron (III) oxide - Fe2O3.





So knowing the pH of your liquids:


(freshly distilled deionised) water - pH 7


salt water - pH ~7


vinegar - pH 2.9


orange juice - pH 3.6





On this basis you would expect the order of rusting to be:


vinegar (most), orange juice, salt water, water (least).





However, two weeks is a long time and so there may not be much difference between the nails after this length of time.