Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and other dramatic natural disasters can leave mounds of wreckage in a matter of seconds. Rust is different. It is insidious and slow-moving. It takes years for it to discolor buildings, thin steel pipelines and tankers carrying oil, and weaken bridges to the point of spontaneous collapse. Rust, the oxidation that turns aluminum white, copper green and steel brown, “is costlier than all other natural disasters combined,” amounting in the US alone to $437B a year, which approaches 3% of our nation’s GDP. By comparison, the damage done to property by hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and Andrew was, in 2012 $, $128B, $50B and $44B, respectively.

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