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.