Zinc Anode, Would this work? Options

[balljoint]

A number of years ago I did a summer work term with a Toronto area Water Works Dept. We got to spend a lot of time observing various projects in the community as we were students. (Yup, I was one of the 8 gov't workers standing near the work that was being done but not really doing anything)

Anyway, one day we were at the scene of a watermain break and once they had the water shut off and the break located and dug up, they put a giant collar around the old cast iron pipe and then welded a giant piece of zinc (3 feet long by 10 inches in diameter) to the pipe to act as a sacrificial anode. This was to prevent further oxidation and hence weakening of the pipe.

I can access zinc pot draw samples from a local galvanized steel manufacturer. I have a zinc sample now that is 3 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. If I were to bolt this to the frame of my 914, would it help to reduce futher oxidation in the same way that the various zinc primers etc. work?

[scotty914]

the rust preventer seen on tv shows is for older pos + ground vehicles, in a + ground vehicle the battery is tring to strip electrons from the metal, when steel rusts it frees electrons. so a + ground system can speed up rust. where as a neg - ground system is always putting electrons in to the body,so the body does not seek em from o2.

years ago toyota did not ground there truck beds which is why they rusted so bad. noway days they put in a ground strap.

this is not 100 % accurate chemistry but the lamens version. basicly steel (iron) needs some electrons to be stabile, which in nature it gets from o2, the battery pumping in electrons slows the attraction of o2 electrons

now zinc needs even more electrons than steel to be stabile so in a wet environment the zinc rusts ( joins with o2 ) due to a concitration of the electron flow at the zinc. it is a simply battery suppling electrons to the steel