Small excursion

An hour later Conrad and Elie were sitting on a train, which headed for the Iron Kingdom. They were only found 27 pairs of Protium-Deuterium pairs, but Elie's former acquaintance of a temple priestess was useful, and she were willing to join them in the Noble race. So Elie wanted to buy the lamps in the afternoon.

"Anyway, we just have to jump over to the neighbor." She said, and Conrad followed her.

He was curious how the luminescence molecules would lighten in the tent. Elie was right, the train reached the next kingdom in an hour.

"This kingdom is dirtier than the Carbon Kingdom was! I mean at the mine." Conrad said, surprised. "And it even smokes!" He pointed to the big chimneys.

The overall look of the Kingdom of Iron looked like in an old movie about London a hundred years ago. Smokey, dusty, and a bit smelly.

"Don't worry, the train has doors, to take shower, like in the Carbon mine stops." Elie said. "But you were right, because this kingdom uses a lot of Carbon to make Iron atoms from their compounds."

"Why?" Conrad asked, but he had a strange feeling, that he heard this somewhere.

"The equation of the process looks like this." Elie showed him her hand device, where an equation was written.

2 Fe2O3 + 3 C = 6 Fe + 3 CO2

"Where can we find Fe2O3?" Conrad was immediately eager to get some, hoping to sell them for a good price.

"Anywhere." Elie replied. "It is commonly called rust."

"Rust?" Conrad asked disappointed. "But that's really be found everywhere!"

"Yes, and we don't even like it, because it destroys our objects. That's why K.O. had to travel to the Kingdom of Iridium."

"You said they were going there to prevent corrosion on the car." Conrad protested.

"Yes." Elie nodded calmly. "The corrosion process' product is rust, in case of Iron. Here we are!"

Conrad couldn't ask more, because they arrived to a shop, which was selling lamps. They bought two of them. Conrad left the choice to Elie, who chose a green one to Valerie, and a black one to Conrad.

"I think, your luminescence molecules will look good in a black lamp." Elie said, and Conrad nodded. He was not interested in which color his lamp was painted. He was wondering why are there different colors, and was it any meaning of the different colors.

"Why are the different in color?" Conrad asked, after they left the shop.

"They are painted, to prevent corrosion." She answered. "The different color of the paint is just decoration."

"Is corrosion such an everyday phenomenon?" Conrad asked, but he examined his lantern contentedly. He also liked the design and the color. The lamp looked so serious, an adult-like, not a childish one. It was a good choice.

"Quite a lot of metal tends to it." Elie nodded.

"Is there a metal that does not corrode?"

"Yes, there are some."

"Then why don't we use them? It would be practical. The buildings were last for an eternity!"

"And the knives, the water tubes, the railway tracks, and the tin cans..." Elie laughed. "It would be a good idea, but the metals, which does not corrode are rare, and very expensive! For example gold, silver, or platinum. Can you imagine, that everybody using them for storing baked beans in a golden can?"

"No." Conrad was frustrated. "How do we know, which metals could corrode, and which ones couldn't?"

"The elemental metals are roughly could be divided into three large groups. There are metals, which don't corrode, like gold, silver, or platinum. There are metals, which corrode a bit, but a protective oxide layer forms on them. It means the layer of the corroded metal covers the surface, and save the deeper metal atoms from the corrosion."

"And if we removed this layer?" Conrad asked curiously. "Could they corrode?"

"They would form another layer, so that layer will protect them again. I don't know if you have already heard about them, but the aluminum, magnesium, zinc, chromium, lead and tin are all have such a protective layer."

"I have heard about tin." Conrad nodded. "The cans are tin boxes. The baked beans, for example."

"Almost." Elie nodded. "The last group of metal is very like to corrode. Like the Lithium, you were working with, of the Iron. If we want to keep them for a long time, we must protect them from corrosion somehow. Or else the whole object is going to be rust after a while."

"Really?" Conrad asked in disbelief. "Even the big buildings?"

"If you don't protect it, the answer is yes. It's just a matter of time. This is because the oxide layer on these metals has a scaly structure and does not protect the underlying layer from corrosion at all. Thus, it also corrodes, and the ones below, those under it, and so on. Sooner or later, the whole thing transforms. Therefore, for example, it must be covered with something to prevent oxygen atoms from reaching the metal. "

"So that's why you were storing the Lithium atoms under those oil slugs!" Conrad cried out.

The other people around them looked at the boy curiously, but no one said a word. They also started somewhere, so they didn't interfere in a novice's learning process.

"Yes!" Elie smiled at him, with a thumb up. "Here's our train, so jump in!" She said, and pushed the boy under the shower gate.

"So, how do we protect the metals from corrosion?" Conrad asked, after they sat down on the train seats. "We can't cover everything with oil!"

"No, we can't!" Elie said. "But in order to protect metals, we must first know what causes corrosion."

"The oxygen, isn't it?"

"Not only, because it can be caused by other little ones as well. It is called chemical corrosion. There are corrosion which is caused by water between two different metals. That is a difficult one."

"Okay." Conrad nodded. " So how are we avoid the chemical corrosion?"

"The easiest way is cover the surface of the metal with paint."

"That's why our lamps are painted!" Conrad nodded.

"Not incidentally, painting can also give objects a beautiful appearance."

"Valerie will like the green lamp!" Conrad smiled at Elie.

"I am glad." Elie smiled back. "But there are much more beautiful covers, than the paint. Enamel coatings and ceramics are also used, and they can then really have an artistic effect!"

"Ceramics? I have heard this word somewhere." Conrad were thinking loud.

"We mentioned it when we were flying above the Kingdom of Boron." She reminded the boy.

"Strange that everything is connected."

"Yes, a lot of things are related." Elie nodded. " For example you could use another metal instead of paint."

"Why? Don' they all corrode?" Conrad asked, but he corrected in that moment. "No, not all of them. But I have never seen using gold instead of paint."

"Because you are not a girl." Elie smiled.

"Do you think Valerie would know?" The boy was offended.

"Maybe. Because most of the cheap jewelries are covered by gold or silver."

"Is this method used only for jewelries?"

"No. You mentioned the canned baked beans." Elie said, and Conrad nodded. " The cans are usually made of iron, but the iron can could corrode, which cause the food goes wrong. So to prevent the corrosion, the inner side of the can is covered by plastic, or tin."

"Tin is a metal, isn't it?"

"Tin is a metal, and it belongs to that group, which have a protective oxide layer on the surface. So the factory makes the cans from iron, and covers the inside. It is a cheaper solution, than making the whole can from tin."

"Is there another way?" Conrad asked, and his voice signed his boredom.

"There are a lot of other ways, using acids, or alloying the metals."

"Alloying?"

"Mixing metals in liquid state, and when you cool down, a completely new metal alloy is formed. I mean the properties are new. For example when you melt copper and tin together, you get bronze. The copper's surface could corrode, but the bronze's couldn't."

"Bronze..." Conrad were thinking hard. "Statues! They make sculptures out of bronze, don't they?"

"Yes. You are right! Give me a five!" Elie held her palm, and Conrad slapped her hand with pleasure.

"Which process will K.O. choose?"

"He will cover the parts of the car with Iridium."

"Like the iron cans with tin."

Elie nodded.

"It is easy." Conrad smiled. "It is darkening, let's try my new lamp!"

Conrad filled the lamp with molecules, but they didn't give any light.

"What's the problem?" Elie asked, when the boy's mouth began to curve down.

"I forget to put them to the sunlight before." Conrad said desperately. "They will not light up."

"Don't worry!" Elie patted his shoulder. "We don't stay in the dark at night. Valerie left the Tritium molecules in my device."