Ranking metals by how they react with water and acids, displacement reactions, oxidation and reduction as oxygen gained and lost, and extracting metals with carbon.
What you will learn
- Put metals in order of reactivity from experiment results
- Predict whether a displacement reaction happens
- Say which substance is oxidised and which is reduced
- Choose how a metal is extracted and work out the mass of metal in an ore
The reactivity series
Metals react by losing electrons to form positive ions.
The more easily a metal does this, the more reactive it is. Listing metals from most to least reactive gives the reactivity series (carbon and hydrogen are put in for comparison):
- potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium
- (carbon)
- zinc, iron, tin, lead
- (hydrogen)
- copper, silver, gold
- With cold water: the metals at the top (potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium) fizz and give a metal hydroxide and hydrogen. Magnesium barely reacts; the rest do not react.
- With dilute acid: metals above hydrogen fizz, giving a salt and hydrogen. The higher the metal, the faster the fizzing and the bigger the temperature rise. Copper, silver and gold do not react.
In an experiment, "more reactive" shows up as more bubbles, a bigger temperature rise or a shorter time for the metal to disappear. A shorter time means a faster reaction, so sort times smallest first.
The rest of this lesson and its 13 practice questions are locked.
In this lesson
- The reactivity series
- Displacement
- Oxidation, reduction and extraction
- Try it: Check a formula mass
13 practice questions, marked as you go; about 25 minutes in all.
Key terms
Reactivity series, Displacement, Oxidation, Reduction, Ores, Below carbon, Above carbon, Electrolysis, Gold
In this unit: Chemical changes: reactivity, acids and electrolysis
The reactivity series and metal extraction, oxidation and reduction, acids, salts and pH, titrations, and electrolysis of melts and solutions.