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UNIT 5: REACTIVTY
Topical Questions
ANSWER KEY
1 Blessy investigates the displacement reactions of four metals.
The metals are copper, magnesium, zinc and iron.
She puts the metals into solutions of metal salts and identifies if there is a reaction.
Look at her table of results.
Key
ü= reaction
û = no reaction
solution
metal
copper magnesium zinc iron
copper sulfate
û sulfate
û sulfate
û sulfate
û
magnesium ü û ü ü
m
zinc ü û û ü
iron ü û û û
2
(a) Write down the order of reactivity of these four metals.
Most reactive Magnesium
Zinc
Iron
Copper
Least reactive ……………………………………….. [1]
(b) Complete the word equation for the reaction between zinc and copper sulfate.
Zinc
.............................
copper
.............................
copper
Zinc
+ sulfate sulfate +
............................. .............................
[1]
2 Ahmed makes some copper sulfate crystals.
He adds an excess of copper oxide to warm dilute sulfuric acid in a beaker.
After the reaction the beaker contains copper sulfate solution and the excess copper
oxide. Copper oxide is insoluble in water.
3
Describe how Ahmed makes copper sulfate crystals from the contents of the beaker.
Filter out the excess copper oxide to get copper sulfate solution
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
as filtrate. Evaporate the solution till the crystallisation point reaches.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….............
Keep the crystals in a cool and dry place.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [3]
3 Some students investigated the reactivity of four unknown metals, W, X, Y and Z.
The letters are not the symbols of these elements.
The students used metal salt solutions of copper nitrate, magnesium sulfate
and zinc chloride.
This is the method used.
· Pour a solution of a metal salt into a glass beaker.
· Measure the temperature of the solution.
· Add 1 g of metal to the solution.
· Measure the temperature of the solution.
· Calculate the temperature increase.
The students did the experiment using each salt solution with each metal.
Figure shows the apparatus the students used.
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Table shows the students’ results.
Temperature increase in oC
Solution Metal W Metal X Metal Y Metal Z
Copper nitrate 46 10 29 No change
Magnesium sulfate No change No change No change No change
Zinc chloride 15 No change No change No change
(a) Which metal is least reactive?
Tick one box.
Metal W
Metal X
Metal Y
Metal Z
[1]
(b) How do the results show that magnesium is more reactive than the metals
W, X, Y and Z?
Because no metal displaces magnesium from its compound.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
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(c) How do the results show that the reaction between metal Y and copper nitrate
solution is exothermic?
Temperature increased by 29oC
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(d) One student said that the investigation was not valid (a fair test).
Write a plan for the investigation that includes improvements to the method
and apparatus. points to be added in the plan
• stir the solution
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
• use the same amount of each solution
• use the same concentration of solution
• put insulation or a lid on the beaker
• measure how high temperature goes
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4 (a) Write the word equation for the reaction between zinc and copper sulfate.
zinc + copper sulfate ----> zinc sulfate + copper
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(b) Complete the symbol equation for the reaction in part a.
Zn + CuSO4 ----> ZnSO4 + Cu
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(c) Write the word equation for the reaction between magnesium and iron sulfate.
magnesium + iron sulfate ---> magnesium sulfate + iron
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(d) Write the symbol equation for the reaction in part c.
Mg + FeSO4 ---> MgSO4 + Fe
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(e) In an investigation, an unknown metal was tested to try to identify it.
The metal was heated in air; it reacted slowly to form an oxide.
The metal was placed in water; there was no reaction.
The metal was placed in dilute acid; there was a reaction with bubbles of gas being given
off slowly.
Write down which of the following metals it could be.
lithium magnesium zinc copper silver
Zinc
…………………………………….. [1]
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(f) Give the formula for sulfuric acid.
H2SO4
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(g) Name this acid: HNO3
Nitric acid
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
(h) Name the salt formed when zinc reacts with hydrochloric acid.
Zinc chloride
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
5 Some students heated magnesium ribbon in a crucible and measured the increase in mass.
They used different masses of magnesium and measured the mass of magnesium
oxide produced. Here are their results:
Mass of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
magnesium used
in g
Mass of 1.65 3.2 5.0 6.6 7.3 10.0 11.5 13.3 15.0 16.4
magnesium oxide
produced in g
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(a) Plot the results on a graph.
17
x
16
15 x
14
x
13
12
x
Mass of 11
MgO / g
10 x
8
x
7
x
6
5 x
4
x
3
2
x
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
mass of Mg / g
