On Tuesday, 27 February 2007 07:22:46 UTC, Brent wrote:
I have had a thought occur to me and i could use confirmation that I
am or i'm not nuts.

First off i live up in snow country and salt country, Ottawa Ontario
Canada

we put enough salt on our roads up here to make the ocean seem fit to
drink. And well Ottawa has one of the most aggressive snow removal and
salt plans going in in the first place.

So heres my question. has anyone or is there any reason not to
deliberately set up a galvanic cell by bolting an amount of magnesium
or zinc to the car body in a place where the elements can hit it? IF
i'm not "nucking futs" then the anode (Magnesium or zinc) getting wet
touching bare steel will set up a galvanic cell with the Mg being
sacrificed and "rusting/oxidizing" away to protect the steel of the
cars bodywork.

Am i nuts? is this doable? does anyone do this? Just curious?


If it matters drive a unibody car with an aluminum block (diesel jetta)

Hi, I have just removed the front stone guard and chassis end covers from my 1933 Rolls Royce for the first time since it was made and in the chassis cavity I find 3 magnesium sacrificial anodes each side. The chassis is steel and it's immaculate and the covers are aluminium and they are immaculate with no corrosion, the anodes however are almost completely corroded away.

Interestingly this car was first delivered to Ontario in 1933 for it's new owner Fredric William Cowan chairman of the Ontario Malleable Iron Company and it remained in the family's ownership until 1974 so the car knows about your environment and road conditions.

Seems the anode Idea is neither mad or new