Magnetic field effect on the rest potential of zinc

We report a rest potential shift for a nonmagnetic electrode in a magnetic field. When a 1.5 T magnetic field is applied to zinc electrode, anodic shifts of 42 mV in paramagnetic solution (16 mM CUSO4) and 5 mV in diamagnetic solution (1 M KNO3 at pH 1) are observed. This shows that neither a ferromagnetic electrode nor a paramagnetic electrolyte is necessary to observe a field-induced rest potential shift. The effect, which varies with applied field as B-0.8, is magnetohydrodynamic in origin, due to the action of the Lorentz force on the cathodic corrosion current. Anodic shifts are predicted for any actively corroding system under cathodic mass transport control. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.