Corrosion, or rusting as some prefer to call it, is a phenomenon
associated predominantly with metals in engineering service, whereby the metal gradually wears away or dissolves in solution over time. This could be gas or water pipelines transporting needed utilities into homes and buildings, farm equipment; automobiles, etc.
It is generally accepted
in the engineering world that most materials corrode, even wood and plastics!
However, because the corrosion rate is very slow or near negligible for non metallic materials like wood and
plastic, it is hardly of interest. Therefore, when people
refer to corrosion, often times, they have metals in mind.
Thus, it is evident that while all materials may corrode, the type of material in question determines not only its predisposition to corrosion but also how quickly
it will corrode in certain environments like water, air and soil. Another property of
a material that can greatly affect its corrosivity is the manufacturing method
used to produce it and whether the material is already stressed. Believe it or not, ‘stressed’ is a word used in Engineering to describe the state of some metals in service!
When corrosion occurs, the metal becomes weak and can no
longer support the level and kind of stress it should ordinarily support. If
the corrosion continues, the metal can fail by simply giving way over time or suffer a
catastrophic or sudden failure.
As defined earlier, the corrosion of
metals is a degradation mechanism that occurs by the electrochemical interaction of
the metal with its environment. I’d explain this statement for the benefit of
some. This statement suggests that metals only corrode because it is
interacting with the environment it is in. Understanding this concept has
helped Engineers to find ways to protect the metal to make sure it does the job
its meant to do in service and for the duration its meant to do it for. Some of the ways Engineers manage corrosion (prevent or slow it down) is to paint the metal. A good example for this is automobiles and cars. In some cases, the metal is lined internally - e.g. water pipelines into homes); anodise the metal (e.g. certain parts of that airplane you are
about to board); cathodically protect the metal (e.g. that cruise liner you
take on your sea holidays) and a few other techniques that are less popular
than the above mentioned ones.
Given the above explanation of metal corrosion, I am sure
some of you are beginning to understand why I think our body also corrodes. Or
perhaps, I’m still the only one that can see the connection! I’d try to explain
the link. In our environment, we have various factors that can weaken our body's good health or destabilize our state of healthy equilibrium. We also have stress inducers or stress raisers ( think of that annoying road user). Some of these health weakening factors may include the kind of food we eat; when we eat; how much we eat; air
pollutants; water pollutants; food pollutants; ‘stressful jobs’; unhealthy
relationships; and many other factors. All these negative factors can possibly wear the body
down and reduce the body’s ability to fight invasions like 'everyday' germs.
Like the manufacturing method also plays a role in the
corrosion of metals, I think genetics and ancestry also affects how the body can handle its interaction with the environment. Some people simply have more pre-disposition to
certain illnesses because of their genetics. In my ‘techy speak’, your
manufacturing method can make you prone to certain forms of body corrosion!
I’m sure the question some people would want to ask then is,
how do you protect metals from corrosion and what lessons can we learn from it
for our health? Some of my suggestions will include the following:
Remove or reduce stress factors – we actually do certain
types of treatments – yes, we do
use that word too in engineering, to make the metal less susceptible to a
stressful environment. You would need to consider what are your own stress
raisers and try to deal with them before they can cause you injury.
Be careful with the ‘oxidation’ reaction step – this has to
do with your sources of fuel / energy, namely the food you eat! The cleaner you
eat, the more organic foods you consume compared to processed foods or foods
containing a high percentage of artificials (artificial colours, artificial
flavours, artificial preservatives), the better. This is known and generally
accepted science. Many people know this but just don’t do it.
Remove toxins from your body to prevent a build up of
toxicity in your body, just as we remove contaminants from the metal so the contaminants do not weaken the metal structure.
So that’s my own postulation – the human body does corrode!
And if we alloy our thoughts on
protecting the human body with already established metallic corrosion
processes, we may learn a trick or two!
Article Written by a Corrosion Engineer
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