Understanding Metal Reactivity and Reactions

All right, so metal activities, or sometimes you hear it as metal reactivities. And we're just, in that context, we're talking about single replacement reactions, and if a reaction will take place based on how active the metal is. Is the free metal more active than the metal that's in the compound? So that's kind of what we're looking at today, if a reaction will occur. um when it's a single replacement reaction containing the replacement of the metal um so metals occur naturally um two ways either as an ore which means that it is in a compound or as a free metal um the more um The less active, that's what I should say, less active metals are the ones that usually appear in their free state. So those are ones that you can typically make like coins or jewelry out of. So silver, gold, platinum, copper. stuff like that. Ones that usually appear in compounds are the ones that are just more active. So the alkaline metals will always appear in compounds, even the alkaline metals will do that. to. And then you have your transition metals where they're sort of like the middle of the road. Some of them will appear in a compound, especially given time. So something like iron or aluminum, given time, will react. therefore they're a little bit more active than say some of the more stable ones like gold or silver. So what you see here which is a little blurry apologize it's more clear on your on your homework but this is like an activity scale if you should be able to find it in your book as well but basically as you go up this table you get more and more active so lithium is the most active metal and then you can see at the the bottom gold is the least active. You can see right in the middle we have aluminum, magnesium, zinc, chromium, iron. They tend to all turn into oxides after some time. So what we're looking at over here on the left is the step-by-steps determining if a reaction is going to occur. So again, that table is on page 145 of your Chemistry in the Community textbook. And then you can see here on the right, you have the number of the different levels of oxygen And which metal is more active? So the ones on the top are more active, and the ones on the bottom are less active. Metal that's higher on the activity series means that it's more willing to give up an electron. When it can give up an electron, then it can react, right? If it wants to hold on to its electrons, it might react by pulling something away, but that's what non-metals do, not metals. Metals don't take electrons, they give them away. So the more... willing they are to give them away, the more likely they are to be reactive so then they're higher on that chart. If we're looking at the, it doesn't look like a single replacement reaction, but the single replacement reaction at the top where we have calcium plus the gold ion, when it has a charge like that it's an ion. Ions don't float around. just aimlessly right they're actually part of compounds but for chemistry purposes we're breaking it down into an individual ion so gold would then be in the compound because calcium is more readily available to give up ion or electrons you can see because it's higher on that chart it will give its electrons to gold which is great gold wants the electrons right it's missing three right now it wants to gain three so calcium is going to give up the electron and on the product side we see that calcium is a two plus and that gold is now neutral because it's given up uh the calcium gave up its electrons it became an ion then the gold gained the electrons that the calcium gave away and it became um a solid metal no longer an ion no longer part of the reaction so uh when we say that an element is giving up electrons it's losing electrons that means it's becoming more positive so if you compare it on the product side to the reactant side we have of calcium in our top reaction there. We have calcium on the reactant side. And then on the product side, it lost electrons. It got more positive. It went from a zero, right? Calcium went nothing, right? And a zero to a plus two. We call it oxidization. And a little acronym to help you remember that is oil. The word oil, O-I-L, oxidization is losing. And then of course, we're referring to electrons. So calcium there is being oxidized. It is losing electrons to become calcium 2+. On the flip side of that, we have gold 3 plus is being reduced. Sometimes it helps you to think of the number being reduced, right? 3 plus is going to zero on the product side. But what reduced means, it means that it's gaining electrons, which is also what we see happening, right? Electrons are negative. So with gold as a 3 plus, it... gains three electrons to become an oxidation state of zero. So therefore, it's reducing. It's being reduced. And again, the acronym for that, you guys can see that there in green, is RIG. So oil RIG. Oxidization is losing electrons. Reduction is gaining electrons. So who's being reduced? Who's being oxidized? You're going to be asked that quite a bit. And you're going to compare the product to the reactant to decide who's gaining and who's losing electrons. We also have another key term here. We call it the reducing agent and the oxidizing agent. We typically label agents on the product side of the reaction in the forward reaction. So in this case where calcium was being oxidized to become calcium 2 plus, the calcium 2 plus is being reduced to become calcium. If you go back That makes calcium 2+, the reducing agent, and then gold with an oxidation state of zero going backwards is now the oxidizing agent. You can see down here at number four, the half reactions are written for oxidization and reduction. We see the half reaction for oxidization where calcium is becoming calcium 2+, and then we write these two electrons as a product. because the calcium released those two electrons to become calcium 2+. Here in the reducing one, we have gold 3+. It's gaining three electrons, so we write that on the reactant side, gaining three electrons to become gold with an oxidation state of zero. You're going to see some more actual examples on how we would determine if a reaction is going to happen, how to write the half reactions. on your digital notebook, but please let me know if you have any general questions.

So that's kind of what we're looking at today, if a reaction will occur. um when it's a single replacement reaction containing the replacement of the metal um so metals occur naturally um two ways either as an ore which means that it is in a compound or as a free metal um the more um The less active, that's what I should say, less active metals are the ones that usually appear in their free state. So those are ones that you can typically make like coins or jewelry out of. So silver, gold, platinum, copper.

stuff like that. Ones that usually appear in compounds are the ones that are just more active. So the alkaline metals will always appear in compounds, even the alkaline metals will do that. to.

And then you have your transition metals where they're sort of like the middle of the road. Some of them will appear in a compound, especially given time. So something like iron or aluminum, given time, will react.

therefore they're a little bit more active than say some of the more stable ones like gold or silver. So what you see here which is a little blurry apologize it's more clear on your on your homework but this is like an activity scale if you should be able to find it in your book as well but basically as you go up this table you get more and more active so lithium is the most active metal and then you can see at the the bottom gold is the least active. You can see right in the middle we have aluminum, magnesium, zinc, chromium, iron.

They tend to all turn into oxides after some time. So what we're looking at over here on the left is the step-by-steps determining if a reaction is going to occur. So again, that table is on page 145 of your Chemistry in the Community textbook.

And then you can see here on the right, you have the number of the different levels of oxygen And which metal is more active? So the ones on the top are more active, and the ones on the bottom are less active. Metal that's higher on the activity series means that it's more willing to give up an electron.

When it can give up an electron, then it can react, right? If it wants to hold on to its electrons, it might react by pulling something away, but that's what non-metals do, not metals. Metals don't take electrons, they give them away.

So the more... willing they are to give them away, the more likely they are to be reactive so then they're higher on that chart. If we're looking at the, it doesn't look like a single replacement reaction, but the single replacement reaction at the top where we have calcium plus the gold ion, when it has a charge like that it's an ion.

Ions don't float around. just aimlessly right they're actually part of compounds but for chemistry purposes we're breaking it down into an individual ion so gold would then be in the compound because calcium is more readily available to give up ion or electrons you can see because it's higher on that chart it will give its electrons to gold which is great gold wants the electrons right it's missing three right now it wants to gain three so calcium is going to give up the electron and on the product side we see that calcium is a two plus and that gold is now neutral because it's given up uh the calcium gave up its electrons it became an ion then the gold gained the electrons that the calcium gave away and it became um a solid metal no longer an ion no longer part of the reaction so uh when we say that an element is giving up electrons it's losing electrons that means it's becoming more positive so if you compare it on the product side to the reactant side we have of calcium in our top reaction there. We have calcium on the reactant side.

And then on the product side, it lost electrons. It got more positive. It went from a zero, right?

Calcium went nothing, right? And a zero to a plus two. We call it oxidization. And a little acronym to help you remember that is oil. The word oil, O-I-L, oxidization is losing.

And then of course, we're referring to electrons. So calcium there is being oxidized. It is losing electrons to become calcium 2+.

On the flip side of that, we have gold 3 plus is being reduced. Sometimes it helps you to think of the number being reduced, right? 3 plus is going to zero on the product side.

But what reduced means, it means that it's gaining electrons, which is also what we see happening, right? Electrons are negative. So with gold as a 3 plus, it... gains three electrons to become an oxidation state of zero. So therefore, it's reducing.

It's being reduced. And again, the acronym for that, you guys can see that there in green, is RIG. So oil RIG. Oxidization is losing electrons. Reduction is gaining electrons.

So who's being reduced? Who's being oxidized? You're going to be asked that quite a bit.

And you're going to compare the product to the reactant to decide who's gaining and who's losing electrons. We also have another key term here. We call it the reducing agent and the oxidizing agent.

We typically label agents on the product side of the reaction in the forward reaction. So in this case where calcium was being oxidized to become calcium 2 plus, the calcium 2 plus is being reduced to become calcium. If you go back That makes calcium 2+, the reducing agent, and then gold with an oxidation state of zero going backwards is now the oxidizing agent.

You can see down here at number four, the half reactions are written for oxidization and reduction. We see the half reaction for oxidization where calcium is becoming calcium 2+, and then we write these two electrons as a product. because the calcium released those two electrons to become calcium 2+. Here in the reducing one, we have gold 3+.

It's gaining three electrons, so we write that on the reactant side, gaining three electrons to become gold with an oxidation state of zero. You're going to see some more actual examples on how we would determine if a reaction is going to happen, how to write the half reactions. on your digital notebook, but please let me know if you have any general questions.

Transcript for:Understanding Metal Reactivity and Reactions

Transcript for:
Understanding Metal Reactivity and Reactions