Many substances react with oxygen. Metals react with oxygen in the air to produce metal oxides. Some react very quickly. For instance, magnesium, which reacts in a few seconds. Others react slowly, as iron , which rusts. Copper reacts even more slowly.
Iron reacts with water to give iron hydroxide, which is a type of metal hydroxide. The iron hydroxide reacts with oxygen to form hydrated iron oxide, which is rust. Therefore, rust is a type of metal oxide.
Metals react with acids to form salts and hydrogen gas. It is possible to remove a layer of rust from a metal using rust removers which contain an acid and they work because metals oxides and metal hydroxides react with acids.
Galvanization
Incorporating hot-dip galvanization to protect metals from corrosion has been a mainstay of industry for about 150 years, and the science of galvanization goes back even further. French chemist Paul Jacques Malouin made a presentation about galvanization before the French Royal Academy in 1742. In 1836, another French chemist, Stanislas Sorel, obtained a patent for his process that used zinc to coat iron. Although the basics of hot-dip galvanization—coating metal with zinc to inhibit corrosion—have remained the same over the years, we’ve come a long way in terms of equipment and technology. We hot-dip entire coils of steel sheet (weighing as much as 22 tons each) in a continuous process on our galvanizing lines, which average close to three football fields in length.