
Metal Reactivity and Displacement
Medium
Can one metal push another metal out of a solution? You place small pieces of six different metals on a spotting tile. The metals are copper, magnesium, iron, lead, silver, and zinc. Then you add drops of each metal's compound solution onto the other metals.
If the loose metal is more reactive, it displaces the metal in the solution. A visible chemical reaction appears. You record which combinations react and which do not. The pattern reveals a clear ranking of metal reactivity from most reactive to least.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that more reactive metals will displace the salt compound attached to less reactive metals.
Method & Materials
You will mark 6 beakers with the names of the solutions, place metal pieces in a spotting tile, add a few drops of the compound solution to the metal pieces, and observe for any chemical reaction.
You will need 6 beakers, 6 spatulas, small metal pieces of copper, magnesium, iron, lead, silver, and zinc, a solution of copper sulfide, magnesium sulfide, iron chloride, lead chloride, silver nitrate, and zinc sulfite, 1 spotting tile, 6 syringes, and 1 marker pen.
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See what’s includedResults
The results show that the more reactive metals have more chemical reactions than the less reactive metals. This proves that the hypothesis is true.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting and unique because it teaches students how to extract metals from ore using displacement reactions.
Also Consider
Experiment variations include using other metals like aluminum and tin, or changing the concentration of the diluted compounds.
Full project details
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