Pipelines...?

Question

Why is a zinc wire connected to and buried with a pipeline when it is built?

Answer 1

*corrosion prevention(prevention of forming of ferrous oxide)

["Rust never sleeps". Oxidation is a destroying process that happens to anything in an oxygen environment. Yes that means humans are always oxidizing too. You may recall all the hype in health literature about anti-oxidants like beta-carotene and others. These supposedly help your body's cells from oxidizing (rusting) and possible mutating into something bad. Oxidation destroys and mutates any element over time reducing it to simpler elements. This process is called oxidation-reduction. When an iron part rusts, it is slowly turning into another compound called ferrous oxide. This red material will just fall off the part like dust until the parts original structure is eaten away bad enough to cause the part to break in service. This is why plating and other coatings are so important to the service life of all metal products. The plating will retard the eventual rusting of any metallic part. The oxidation process is busy working on the plating so the part is protected from any oxidation for an extended time. The plating business is not what it used to be. The quality of the plating finish is now considered an essential element of the total performance of a part. ]

*Read article regarding galvanic corrosion.

Answer 2

The Cathodic Protection device I've encountered is in relation to a 120km pipeline running through a low lying, damp region of ground.
Sacrificial Zinc Anodes are used, placed at intervals along its length.
This is called a 'Galvanic Anode' where its purpose is to prevent corrosion of the oil/gas pipelines, by being less electronegative than the pipeline metal.
Although the pipeline tended to lose electrons, (corrosion), it lost less than it gained from the electrons flowing from the zinc Anode and thereby became the Cathode.
Hence the term 'Sacrificial Anode' ...It sacrifices itself to save the pipeline...

Answer 3

This is a sacrificial anode to prevent corrosion of the actual metal pipeline.

Answer 4

if you are talking about a wire that is attached to your gas pipe for your house, the wire is for tracing the pipe line through the yard, they attach a device to it that makes the pipe very easy to find when they use locating equipment.

Answer 5

Could it be to prevent static electricity build up?