Oh yes, we did sacrificial anodes and galvanic protection (where you provide the electrons directly from a wind turbine, and make the anode either something that doesn't corrode (perhaps carbon?) or something you don't care about (old cars and tractors, apparently!)) at school, I was just wondering whether they even attempted to paint them, or use special steel or whatever.

So my question for you is: why do zinc coated things last a lot longer than steel?  If zinc is more reactive why doesn't it all just disappear quickly and revert to iron?