Entropy never rests. This is the immutable law of physics we battle every day in every project. Simply stated, entropy is the dissolution of order into chaos.
Boatbuilders battle entropy with painstaking fits and marvelous details to hold complex systems in balance for a time. When the bundle of order that keeps you afloat succumbs, you’ll be out on the water with a small clutch of tools to restore balance and move on.
“Ha!” An old shellback wails from his perch on a pier, “Ha! You’re foredoomed! Entropy has already crept into your toolbox to blunt your efforts!”
Dread naught. Disregard cynical ancient mariners and keep your sea-tools rust-free and sharp. It ain’t easy.
Fighting Old Man Rust
Rust is ferrous oxide, the product of an electrochemical process in continual action, especially in the marine environment. Even if you’re not doused with rain or spray, moisture is in the air, adhering to surfaces. The carbon dioxide component of air combines with free oxygen to form carbonic acid. Acid dissolves surface iron. An electrolysis occurs using iron as both the anode and cathode of an impromptu battery, connected by moisture acting as an electrolyte. The flow of electrons rearranges the molecular pattern, oxidizing iron and steel, producing flakes of rust. The process localizes to form pits in steel surfaces. It’s grim, and it gets even worse in an ocean environment: salt (suspended as an aerosol) boosts the electrolytic efficiency enormously and causes even greater damage, more quickly.