GEORGIA MILITARY COLLEGE

NATURAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

ONLINE CAMPUS

LABORATORY 6 THE CHEMISTRY OF METALS: EXPLORING REACTIVITY

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Introduction

This laboratory explores the concept of reactivity in metals. A metals reactivity is a measure of the ease with which it reacts with other substances (Hein et al. 2023). Some metals such as sodium are highly reactive, while others such as platinum and gold are inert (Hein et al. 2023). Generally, how reactive a metal is depends on the ease with which it loses electrons in its outer shell to form cations (Hein et al. 2023). Metals that lose electrons easily are more reactive than those that do not easily lose the electrons in their outer shell. The reactivity series is a list that arranges metals by reactivity, with the least reactive at the bottom and the most reactive at the top.

It is important to study metal reactivity because such knowledge helps in predicting how different metals would behave in a chemical reaction, and hence, what metal to choose for a certain function (Hein et al. 2023). For instance, very reactive metals such as sodium and potassium react vigorously with oxygen and water and could be used in developing explosives. At the same time, inert metals such as gold and silver that do not easily corrode are good for making coins and jewelry.

A reactive metal has the capacity to displace another that is less reactive from its salt aqueous salt solution (Hein et al. 2023). Taking the example of zinc immersed in copper (II) sulfate, zinc displaces the copper in the aqueous copper (II) sulfate solution, leading to the formation of zinc sulfate and copper as shown in figure 1 (Hein et al., 2023):

Zn (s) + CuSo4 (aq) = ZnSo4 (aq) + Cu (s). Figure 1.

Zn, the free metal, is more reactive than Copper (Cu). It loses electrons and dissolves into the salt solution. At the same time, the less reactive copper (II) ions accept the electrons donated by zinc to form the free metal Cu.

The net ionic reaction between the elements can be presented as:

Zn(s) + Cu2+ (aq) => Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s).....................................................figure 2

This could...

Relative reactivity is the comparison of different metals by reactivity using a standard media, such as their reaction when placed in water or acid. The factors to look for in relative reactivity include:

i) Change in temperature

ii) Formation of a solid precipitate

iii) Evolution of gases , which is shown through the...

…color of the aqueous solution from blue to colorless due to the loss of copper (II) ions, and formation of a brown solid of copper metal. Thus, the metals rank as follows by order of reactivity: magnesium (most reactive) zinc lead copper (least reactive).

Conclusion

This laboratory sought to enhance understanding of relative reactivity of metals. A reactive metal has the capacity to displace another that is less reactive from its salt aqueous salt solution. A metals reactivity depends on the ease with which it loses electrons in its outer shell to form cations. The higher the ability to lose electrons, the more reactive a metal is. This lab involved conducting a series of redox reactions to analyze the relative reactivity of four metals: lead, zinc, magnesium, and copper. The general hypothesis at the start of the lab was that alkaline earth metals (magnesium and zinc) are more reactive than transitional metals (lead and copper). 1g of solid magnesium metal was placed in a flask containing aqueous solutions of copper (II) nitrate, zinc (II) nitrate and copper (II) nitrate at different times. The temperature and color of the aqueous solution were observed before and after the reaction with the metal. The procedure was repeated for the other three metals zinc, lead, and copper. The data showed that magnesium metal displaced the other three metals from their aqueous salt solutions, while zinc displaced both lead…