The diagram shows displacement reactions drawn as arrows: an arrow points from a metal to the salt solution it can displace. Using the arrows, which metal i...
Question 1 Report
The diagram shows displacement reactions drawn as arrows: an arrow points from a metal to the salt solution it can displace. Using the arrows, which metal is the most reactive?
Answer Details
Each arrow means "this metal can displace the metal in that salt solution", which places the metal above that salt's metal in the reactivity series.
One arrow runs from zinc to iron(II) sulfate, so zinc is above iron: \( \text{Zn} + \text{FeSO}_4 \rightarrow \text{ZnSO}_4 + \text{Fe} \). A second arrow runs from iron to copper(II) sulfate, so iron is above copper. Chaining these gives zinc above iron above copper, making zinc the most reactive metal shown.
Iron is the trap, because it has an arrow leaving it and so looks active, but it also sits at the receiving end of the zinc arrow. A metal that no arrow points to is the top of the chain. Copper has no arrow leaving it at all, so it is the least reactive.
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