Reactivity Series

• Aluminum - despite its high placement in the reactivity series - is seemingly unreactive due to its protective aluminum oxide layer
• General Reactivity series (descending order of reactivity)

  • K - Potassium
  • Na - Sodium
  • Ca – Calcium
  • Mg – Magnesium
  • Al – Aluminum
  • C – Carbon
  • Zn – Zinc
  • Fe – Iron
  • Pb – Lead
  • H – Hydrogen
  • Cu – Copper
  • Ag – Silver
  • Au – Gold
• Everything above hydrogen can displace hydrogen from its acid, and hydrogen cannot reduce their oxides.
• Metals above carbon, their oxides cannot be reduced by carbon
• Water:

  1. metal + cold water → metal hydroxide + hydrogen

  2. metal + steam → metal oxide + hydrogen
• Oxygen reactivity:

  metal +oxygen → metal oxide
• Dilute acids:

  In a metal and acid reaction, the hydrogen atom in the acid is replaced by the metal atom to form a product of salt and hydrogen