chemistry-reactivity exercises

Reactivity exercises

A student set up the experiment above.
Test tube "A" contains metal "Y" in a solution containing metal "X".
Test tube "B" contains metal "X" in a solution containing metal "Z".
Test tube "C" contains metal "Z" in a solution containing metal "Y".
Test tube "D" contains metal "Z" in a solution containing metal "B".

1) Place the metals "X", "B", "Y", "Z" in order of increasing reactivity.

2) A bridge is made of metal "Y" while the bolts used to secure the beams are made from metal "B". Explain what will happen.

3) A bridge is made of metal "Z" while the bolts used to secure the beams are made from metal "Y". Explain what will happen.

4) An iron nail was placed in a blue solution of copper sulfate. As shown on the right. After a few hours the solution turned clear and copper was deposited on the bottom of the beaker while the iron nail had been totally dissolved. The results are shown on the far right.
Which is the more reactive metal out of copper and iron?

Describe what happened by filling in the gaps. Select the correct response.
*Hint keep in mind that ions are atoms that have a positive or negative charge because they have either lost or gained electrons. Metals usually form positive charged ions.

The blue copper sulfate solution contained . Iron is than

copper so when the two metals react, are transferred from the

atom to the ion.

The blue copper sulfate solution contained copper ions. Iron is more reactive than

copper so when the two metals react, electrons are transferred from the iron

atom to the copper ion.

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Solution

5) The copper metal, that was deposited from the experiment above, was filtered and the filtrate collected in a beaker. A small piece of magnesium was placed in the filtrate and left. After a 24 hours the solution had turned into a rusty brown colour. Rust was obviously present but students could not explain how rust could form if there was no iron metal present.
Explain the results.

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