Results
Table of Results:
Data Analysis
From the table above, we can conclude that the most reactive metal is Magnesium (Mg), since it reacts with all the metal compounds except itself (Magnesium Sulphate). Then will come Zinc (Zn) , reacting with 2 Metal Compounds. Iron(Fe) will be less reactive than Zn and reacting with only 1 Metal Compound. Finally the least reactive Solid Metal will be Copper and Lead, reacting with none metal compounds.
Balanced Formulas
Results were not done as shown in the lab, but in theory, since those are the most accurate ones. The diagonal Xs were not included in the formulas since they obviously did not present a reaction.
Copper (ii) Sulphate + Iron Iron(ii) Sulphate + Copper
Cu SO4(aq)+ Fe(s) Fe SO4(aq)+ Cu(s)
Copper(ii) Sulphate + Magnesium Magnesium(ii) Sulphate + Copper
Cu SO4(aq)+ Mg(s) Mg SO4 (aq)+ Cu(s)
Copper(ii) Sulphate + Zinc Zinc(ii) Sulphate + Copper
Cu SO4(aq)+ Zn(s) Zn SO4 (aq)+ Cu(s)
Copper(ii) Sulphate + Lead Lead(ii) Sulphate + Copper
Cu SO4 (aq)+ Pb(s) Pb SO4 (aq)+ Cu(s)
Iron(ii) Chloride + Copper No Reaction
Fe Cl(aq) + Cu(s) No reaction
Iron(ii) Chloride + Magnesium Magnesium(ii) Chloride + Iron
Fe Cl(aq) + Mg(s) MgCl(aq) + Fe(s)
Iron(ii) Chloride + Zinc Zinc(ii) Chloride + Iron
Fe Cl(aq) + Zn(s) Zn Cl(aq) + Fe(s)
Iron(ii) Chloride + Lead No Reaction
Fe Cl(aq) + Pb(s) No Reaction
Magnesium(ii) Sulphate + Copper No Reaction
Mg SO4 (aq)+ Cu(s) No Reaction
Magnesium(ii) Sulphate + Iron No Reaction
Mg SO4 (aq)+ Fe(s) No Reaction
Magnesium(ii) Sulphate + Zinc No Reaction
Mg SO4 (aq)+ Zn(s) No Reaction
Magnesium(ii) Sulphate + Lead No Reaction
Mg SO4 (aq)+ Pb(s) No Reaction
Zinc(ii) Nitrate + Copper No Reaction
Zn (NO3)2 (aq)+ Cu(s) No Reaction
Zinc(ii) Nitrate + Iron No Reaction
Zn (NO3)2 (aq)+ Fe(s) No Reaction
Zinc(ii) Nitrate + Magnesium Magnesium(ii) Nitrate + Zinc
Zn (NO3)2 (aq)+ Mg(s) Mg (NO3)2 (aq) +Zn(s)
Zinc(ii) Nitrate + Lead No Reaction
Zn (NO3)2 (aq) + Pb(s) No Reaction
Lead(ii) Nitrate + Copper No Reaction
Pb (NO3)2 (aq) + Cu(s) No Reaction
Lead(ii) Nitrate + Iron Iron(ii) Nitrate + Lead
Pb (NO3)2 (aq) + Fe(s) Fe (NO3)2 (aq) + Pb(s)
Lead(ii) Nitrate + Magnesium Magnesium(ii) Nitrate + Lead
Pb (NO3)2 (aq) + Mg(s) Mg (NO3)2 (aq) + Pb(s)
Lead(ii) Nitrate + Zinc Zinc(ii) Nitrate + Lead
Pb (NO3)2 (aq) + Zn(s) Zn (NO3)2 (aq) + Pb(s)
Observations
Before the lab the following compounds/metals looked like this:
- Copper(Cu): Very shiny orangish, solid
- Iron(Fe): Dark grey, solid
- Magnesium(Mg): Bright silver, solid
- Zinc(Zn): Very similar to Magnesium appearance, its also a solid
- Lead (Pb): Darker than Magnesium and Zinc but also a Solid.
-
Copper Sulphate (Cu SO4): Blue transparent liquid solution
- Iron Chloride(Fe Cl): Green transparent liquid solution
-
Magnesium Sulphate(MgSO4): Totally transparent liquid solution
-
Zinc Nitrate(Zn (NO3)2: Totally transparent liquid solution
-
Lead Nitrate (Pb (NO3)2: Totally transparent liquid solution
On the lab they looked like this:
-
Copper Sulphate(Cu SO4) with:
- Copper: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron: A coat of copper appear on the iron and the solution turns pale green. (Reaction)
- Magnesium:Turns black on its surface (Reaction)
- Zinc: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Lead: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron Chloride(Fe Cl) with:
- Copper: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Magnesium:Its surface turns black (Reaction
- Zinc:Turns black on its surface (Reaction)
- Lead: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
-
Magnesium Sulphate(MgSO4)with:
- Copper: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Magnesium: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Zinc: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Lead: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
-
Zinc Nitrate(Zn (NO3)2 with:
- Copper: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Magnesium: Turns black on tis surface (Reaction)
- Zinc: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Lead: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
-
Lead Nitrate (Pb (NO3)2 with:
- Copper: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Iron: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
- Magnesium: Its surface turns slowly black (Reaction)
- Zinc: Instantly its surface turns black(Reaction)
- Lead: No texture/surface/color change (No Reaction)
Conclusion
- Write down the order of reactivity you found:
Based on the graphic above; the reactivity order i found:
- Suggest why some squares were marked with an X on the grid.
The diagonal squares in the grid from top left hand corner to lower right hand corner were marked with an X because it is pretty obvious that a metal can not displace the same metal on the compound; because it has the same reactivity and atoms on the last shell in the atom. So for example, Copper will not displace Copper on the compound: “Copper Sulphate”.
- Referring to your text book. Is there any metal that does not seem to be behaving as its position says it should? Can you find any reasons for this?
Well referring to the reaction series there are some metals i found which do not fit in the reaction series, this are Copper and Lead; well copper and lead should not be tied, the reactivity series show that Lead is more reactive than copper, and by this it should be first in the reactivity order.
i think there are 2 possible ways to explain why this happens:
-
Since the results we did were not very accurate and Lead and Copper are very close in the reactivity series, maybe we did not noticed the reaction of Lead or Copper, or maybe there wasn't in neither of them, well it is very possible that the reaction of them was not too noticeable to see the difference between them, but even though there was.
- The other possible way, could be that the metals weren't very clean before we tested them, and so this could have altered and prevented a reaction in Lead.
Evaluation
In general we did a great effort with my teammate in the lab, we applied exactly two drops of the metal compound to the metal solid, tried every metal to be clean , but unfortunately we needed machinery to polish every single metal but we did not had it, we just had to do our best at trying to polish them.
Another problem we did had, was to handle the spaces and the arrangement of the metals within their boxes in the lab; well we applied a small square to each experiment, we frequently had the metal compound spreading into other boxes, damaging the fair results of the other experiments. One solution could be to apply bigger spaces and arrange each metal at the center of its box.