Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Reactions of Metals

Reactive metals with water

Reactive metals with water

  • Potassium, sodium and lithium all react quickly with cold water to produce a metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas.
Reactive metals with water cont.

Reactive metals with water cont.

  • Potassium is the most reactive so reacts very quickly. The hydrogen produced ignites instantly and the metal also sets alight, sparking and burning with a lilac flame.
  • Sodium fizzes rapidly and melts to form a ball that moves around on the water surface.
  • Lithium fizzes steadily and floats, becoming smaller until it eventually disappears.
Reactions with dilute acids

Reactions with dilute acids

  • Most metals react with dilute acids to produce a salt and hydrogen gas.
    • The exceptions are copper, silver, gold and platinum. They are not reactive enough to react.
  • The metals that react with dilute acids but not cold water are magnesium, aluminium, zinc, iron and lead (iron and lead react slowly).
Metal extraction

Metal extraction

  • Most metals are only found as compounds because the metal has reacted with other elements in the past.
  • Because of this, the metal has to be extracted from the ore where the metal compound is found.
Extraction with carbon

Extraction with carbon

  • Metals that are less reactive than carbon can be extracted from their oxides by reducing with carbon.
    • Carbon is used because it is cheap and abundant.
  • In the reduction, the metal oxide loses oxygen to form a pure metal.
  • Reduction with carbon normally involves heating the metal oxide in the presence of the carbon, which is often used in the form of coal.
Jump to other topics
1

Atomic Structure

2

Chemical Bonding

3

Quantitative Chemistry

4

Chemical Changes

5

Energy Changes

6

The Rate & Extent of Chemical Change

7

Organic Chemistry

8

Chemical Analysis

9

Chemistry of the Atmosphere

10

Using Resources

Practice questions on Reactivity Tests

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
Answer all questions on Reactivity Tests

Unlock your full potential with Seneca Premium

  • Unlimited access to 10,000+ open-ended exam questions

  • Mini-mock exams based on your study history

  • Unlock 800+ premium courses & e-books

Get started with Seneca Premium