More than 400 years ago, a wooden warship called the Mary Rose sank off the coast of England. Layers of mud and silt preserved the ship until archaeologists raised it from the water in 1982. Now, scientists are working to protect the Mary Rose from a new hazard.
While the ship lay buried, iron (Fe) seeped into the wood. Once the Mary Rose got exposed to oxygen (O) in the air, the metal began to oxidize, or rust. That formed chemicals that damage the ship.
To halt the destruction, Serena Corr, a chemist at the University of Sheffield in England, developed a gel made of tiny magnetic particles. They can draw iron from the wood. Afterward, “the gel can simply be peeled away,” says Corr. The gel has been successful in tests. Soon Corr will apply it to the Mary Rose’s entire hull.