Iron is "galvanized" by adding a thin coating of zinc to prevent rusting.

The primary method of galvanization is "hot dip galvanization". While the idea of coating metal in molten zinc was first proposed by chemist Paul Jacques Malouin in 1742, the process was not put into practice until patented by chemist Stanislas Sorel in 1837. Sorel's process has changed little since then, and still involves coating a part in molten zinc after cleaning it with an acid solution.

Read Sorel's patent application.

Assume your galvanized nail contains only the elements Fe and Zn.

You have seen this single displacement reaction in a previous lab.

Zn _(s) + HCl _(l) → ZnCl_{2 (s)} + H_{2 (g)}

This reaction can be used to remove the zinc coating from the iron nail.