Metal Activity and Reactivity: Oxidation and Reduction Reactions—ChemTopic™ Lab Activity

The usefulness of metals in applications depends on their physical and chemical properties. Although iron is commonly used in manufacturing, it must be protected against corrosion. Copper is used in electrical wiring because it conducts electricity extremely well and resists corrosion while gold is a highly valuable jewelry metal because it is essentially unreactive. With the Metal Activity and Reactivity: Oxidation and Reduction Reactions—ChemTopic™ Lab Activity, carry out a series of possible single replacement reactions of metals with solutions of metal cations and determine the activity series of the metals by observing which combinations of metals and metal cations undergo chemical reactions.