WORKSHEET: REACTIVITY
Name :
Groups:
The reaction of Metals in Water
1. The following table summaries the reactions of some metals with water
Metals Reaction with water
Zinc (Zn) React only with steam
Copper (Cu) No reaction
Lithium (Li) The metals move rapidly across the surface, make a hissing sound, and
burst into flame
Magnesium (Mg) Slow reaction with water
A. Place the metals in order of how strongly they react with water. Start with the most reactive:
B. Write a word equation for the reaction between lithium and water
C. Name another metal that reacts in a similar way to Lithium?
D. Using the information above, explain why copper is used for the roofs of buildings but magnesium
is not.
2. The following apparatus was set up to investigate the reactions of some metals with steam
A. Which gas is given off in this reaction?
B. How do you test for this gas?
Displacement Reactions
3. The word equations below represent some displacement reactions.
aluminium + copper sulfate → aluminium sulfate + copper
aluminium + lead nitrate → aluminium nitrate + lead
lead + copper sulfate → lead sulfate + copper
lead + silver nitrate → lead nitrate + silver
A. Use the word equations to decide which of the four metals – aluminum, copper, lead, and silver – is
the most reactive?
B. Decide if a reaction will take a place when a lead is placed in a solution of magnesium sulfate. If
you think there will be a reaction, write the word equation for it.
C. Decide if a reaction will take a place when the iron is placed in a solution of lead nitrate. If you
think there will be a reaction, write the word equation for it.
4. More reactive metals can displace less reactive ones from solutions of salts. The table below shows the
results of an experiment that uses displacement reactions
Iron Copper Zinc Magnesium
Copper sulfate Reaction Reaction Reaction
Zinc sulfate No reaction No reaction Reaction
Magnesium sulfate No reaction No reaction No reaction
A. The table shows that zinc displaces the copper in copper sulfate. What does this tell you about the
reactivity of zinc and copper?
B. Write the word equation for the reaction between zinc and copper sulfate
C. The table shows that there is no reaction between magnesium sulfate and zinc. What does this tell
you about the reactivity of these two metals?
D. Use the table to work out whether iron is more or less reactive than copper. Then work out whether
magnesium is more or less reactive than iron. Write these three metals in order of reactivity. Start
with the most reactive.
