Parker Flynn
7th Grade, Homeschool
Charlottesville, VA
Parker has an uncle with a boat. While he was learning about boats, Parker also ended up learning about the problem of corrosion. “Modern ships are mostly made of metals like steel. So, when they are in the salty water of the ocean (an electrolyte) they corrode quickly,” Parker says. Parker’s uncle uses zinc on the hull of his boat as a sacrificial metal to create something called cathodic protection against corrosion. Parker became curious as to which method of cathodic protection would work best.
Testing Corrosion: Types of Cathodic Protection of Steel
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Project Background
Parker compared two types of cathodic protection — impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) and sacrificial metals. ICCP uses a small voltage to provide a flow of electrons that protects the metal it’s on. Sacrificial metal — like the zinc on Parker’s uncle’s boat — corrodes faster than metal under it, giving off a flow of electrons to protect the underlying metal. Parker connected magnesium, zinc, nickel, copper or an AA battery to steel wool. Parker put each piece of steel wool in saltwater to mimic the ocean and waited 14 days to see how much each steel wool piece would rust.
Parker showed that magnesium would do best to prevent rust, because it is the most reactive of the metals. “I also expected the AA battery sample to work better than the control sample since this method is used on modern ships today,” Parker says. “However, ICCP was very similar to the control.”
Beyond the Project
Parker is passionate about helping kids newly arrived to the U.S. “I run a sports club for international students, help provide meals and help run activities like hikes to help them make connections with local families,” Parker says. Parker loves the competition and exercise of sports and plays soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, volleyball and runs track. Parker also plays the baritone ukulele. The teen is interested in materials science, especially corrosion science. “I have talked to several people in this industry, and there is so much more study needed on this topic,” Parker says.
