Metal Reacts with dilute acid? copper no silver no zinc yes gold no A student is given the reactivity of four metals and must choose one that can be added d...
Question 1 Report
| Metal | Reacts with dilute acid? |
|---|---|
| copper | no |
| silver | no |
| zinc | yes |
| gold | no |
A student is given the reactivity of four metals and must choose one that can be added directly to dilute sulfuric acid to make its sulfate. Using the table, which metal is suitable?
Answer Details
A metal can only make its salt by direct addition to an acid if it is above hydrogen in the reactivity series, because the reaction works by the metal displacing hydrogen from the acid. The table answers this for you: copper, silver and gold are all recorded as not reacting with dilute acid, while zinc is the one that does.
Zinc is therefore the suitable choice, and warming it with dilute sulfuric acid gives steady effervescence of hydrogen:
\[ \mathrm{Zn + H_2SO_4 \rightarrow ZnSO_4 + H_2} \]
Excess zinc is filtered off and the solution is crystallised.
Copper, silver and gold sit below hydrogen, so no reaction occurs at all and no salt is formed. Copper(II) sulfate must instead be made from copper(II) oxide or copper(II) carbonate with the acid.
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