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Iron is a powerful electron donor, in wooden ships (commonly made with oak components) this same phenomenon is called "nail sick" or "iron sickness" and is why

Iron is a powerful electron donor, in wooden ships (commonly made with oak components) this same phenomenon is called "nail sick" or "iron sickness" and is why brass and bronze are preferred to iron/steel/stainless steel hardware and fasteners. It will also do this to wood on the outside of your house if it comes into contact with moisture. The wood looks burned around old nails, because the process is similar to what happens when the wood is actually on fire. I've been repairing the old growth wood trim on my house from the 1930's and dutchman-ing the destroyed bits around fasteners with salvaged wood of a similar age.

nyanpasu64 2y ago
I looked up electron donors in Wikipedia and apparently those serve as reducing agents. I was confused how it would oxidize wood, so I looked up 'iron-catalyzed oxidation' and found an article (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00351367 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00351367) which claims oxidizing iron produces free radicals and hydrogen peroxide which subsequently eats the wood. I also came across https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrous in my research....chemistry is complicated.
- austinjp 2y ago
  OIL RIG: oxidation is loss, reduction is gain (of electrons). So an electron donor would seem to facilitate reduction. My chemistry-fu is very weak, though, so take with a pinch of NaCl.
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    LEO, "GER"! (Loss of Electrons is Oxidation, Gain of Electrons is Reduction)
nmeofthestate 2y ago
For the same reason, if you use steel wool on oak it'll ruin it, as tiny pieces of the steel embed in the wood and react with it resulting in lots of small black spots.
joshu 2y ago
look up fenton's reagent: iron(ii) will catalyze water into hydrogen peroxide. this also causes iron gall ink to damage paper over time

nyanpasu64 2y ago

I looked up electron donors in Wikipedia and apparently those serve as reducing agents. I was confused how it would oxidize wood, so I looked up 'iron-catalyzed oxidation' and found an article (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00351367 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00351367) which claims oxidizing iron produces free radicals and hydrogen peroxide which subsequently eats the wood. I also came across https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrous in my research....chemistry is complicated.

austinjp 2y ago
OIL RIG: oxidation is loss, reduction is gain (of electrons). So an electron donor would seem to facilitate reduction. My chemistry-fu is very weak, though, so take with a pinch of NaCl.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  LEO, "GER"! (Loss of Electrons is Oxidation, Gain of Electrons is Reduction)

nmeofthestate 2y ago

For the same reason, if you use steel wool on oak it'll ruin it, as tiny pieces of the steel embed in the wood and react with it resulting in lots of small black spots.

joshu 2y ago

look up fenton's reagent: iron(ii) will catalyze water into hydrogen peroxide. this also causes iron gall ink to damage paper over time