Investigation to find out what affect the position of a metal in the reactivity series has on its ability to be displaced.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Johanna Mans 12.2

Enthalpy changes on displacement and the reactivity series

Aim

To find out what affect the position of a metal in the reactivity series has on its ability to be displaced.

Background Information

The reactivity of metals is shown in the reactivity series below.

Potassium Most reactive

Sodium

Calcium

Magnesium

Aluminium

Zinc

Iron

Lead

Copper

Silver

Gold

Platinum Least reactive

As zinc is higher in the reactivity series than both lead and copper, it will be able to displace them from their compounds.

Hypothesis

The closer the metal is to zinc, the harder it will be for zinc to displace, eg, iron would be harder for it to displace than silver. This means that less energy will be produced. Therefore, I predict that lead will be harder to displace, and will therefore have the smaller enthalpy change value.

Apparatus Justification

Apparatus

Justification

Polystyrene Cup

This acted as the calorimeter, and this is an insulator to ensure that it is not effected by the heat changes in the experiment

100 cm³