Jonathan Waldman on 'Rust' and our crumbling infrastructure

We hear about our state's crumbling infrastructure and debate how to pay to improve it, but what do we actually know about the act of crumbling? Things corrode. Things rust. But does rust have a place in the political debates?

Jonathan Waldman's new book, "Rust," explains the science behind oxidation and why we should care about it: Think of the bridges, buildings, and pipelines that can be compromised if metals are allowed to deteriorate.

From the New York Times review:

To a large extent, that's because (Waldman) concentrates less on corrosion itself than on the eccentric brotherhood of engineers and bureaucrats who fight it. In this, he may have had little choice. The basic science of rust -- technically, the chemical interaction between oxygen and iron, although Mr. Waldman tends to apply the word more colloquially to the oxidation of any metal -- is so simple it takes up just six pages in "Rust." But the risks it poses to an industrialized society are legion.

"Rust has knocked down bridges, killing dozens," Mr. Waldman announces at the outset. "It's killed at least a handful of people at nuclear power plants ... It has shut down the nation's largest oil pipeline."

Waldman spoke to MPR News' Tom Weber about his book.

Slideshow: Seeing Beauty in the Rust Belt