> I was always under the impression that water alone would not rust
> metal.
I've asked some chemists about that, still don't know the right answer.
But, water found in the environment almost always has oxygen dissolved in
it, not to mention carbonic acid. If you take tap water and pull a vacuum
on it, it will appear to boil before you get down to the vapor pressure of
water, as the dissolved gases come out of solution. Then it will sit quiet
for a bit until the vacuum does get down to the vapor pressure of water
before it starts boiling for real. (I thought this was SO neat when I was a
kid.)
Add a little dash of salt from the road (or around here, ocean spray) to the
dissolved gases and environmental water is pretty dang corrosive.
Randall
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