Chemistry Question.

[Carl_steveo]

My nephew just rang me about his homework. I haven't done chemistry since 2005 so I have no idea. The question is:

Choose from this list a metal that reacts violently with dilute hydrochloric acid.

Potassium, sodium, zinc, iron, copper or gold.


Cheers in advance.
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[The View Askew]

Potassium and Sodium.
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Potassium would most violently.

It reacts rather well with just water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31YLkZJCea4

With hydrochloric acid^^
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[Skudd]

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[Carl_steveo]

Is the reaction the same for both concentrated hydrochloric acid and diluted hydrochloric acid. I wish i had carried on with school i feel thick theres 14 year old kids who know more about this than i do.
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[MarJay]

Its basically down to its position in the periodic table.

https://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/periodic_table.gif

The lower it is and the further left on the periodic table, the more violently it will react with any acid.

If you were to put Cesium in water (which is pH neutral) it would explode!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNdijknRxfU

This is down to Redox reactions. Reduction and Oxidation reactions are basically movement of electrons from one atom to another to form a covalent bond. If you were to take Chlorine gas (which has a single space in its outer electron shell) and expose it to Sodium (which has a single electron in its outer shell) you would create table salt, Sodium Chloride, NaCl which is a salt and therefore very stable.



https://www.gcsescience.com/a5-reaction-sodium-chlorine.htm
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[Clanger]

Where is the fun in giving him the answer...let him find out for himself!!!
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[stinkwheel]

That is a badly formatted question. They do that a lot in GCSE. "violent" is a nonsense term in terms of a chemical reaction. (It's like asking which bike is the best out of a YZF600, GSXR600 and a ZX6R). Which of the following would react most energetically when placed in acid" would be a better way of asking. (Like asking which bike has the greatest power output).

Anyway. My problems with the education system aside (and yes, I was like that all through school and would probably have written words to the effect of the above if i'd been given that question in my homework, in the unlikely event that I did it).

Potassium would probably go bang. Sodium would definately melt and whizz about on the surface of the acid, would probably catch fire (depending how strong the acid is), Zink would bubble away merrily, iron would fizz slightly, copper would slowly turn green. Gold would do nothing.

It is a question about the Reactivity Series.

For a full, credit answer, you would state that of the metals listed, Potassium is highest in the reactivity series and would therefore give the most energetic reaction.

The chemical reaction (Potassium + Hydrochloric acid = Potassium Chloride + Hydrogen) is the same for both concentrated and dilute acid, the speed of the reaction will be faster in the concentrated acid.
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[Phoenix]

As Stinkwheel says, it's a badly worded question unless that's not quite how it was worded, though it does sound like a High School style question. All depends on what the person who set the question deems as a violent reaction, if they only want one metal then I'd say either Potassium or Sodium would be a satisfactory answer as the others just bubble or do nothing, but if they want the most 'violent', which it doesn't imply, then as said, Potassium.

[Carl_steveo]

Cheers lads Karma all round.

The question was worded exactly like that. I think they just dumb it down a little. I thought potassium was the answel because i remembered doing it at school when its thrown in water but its been years since I've done it.
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Current: Honda Nsr 125
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Luke "cant be arsed to read your post, but suck my balls anyway."

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[MarJay]

[Sir Black Pig]

Hmm. I may be wrong but the last time I looked at the periodic table (1979 ish) it was smaller. Or is that just the same thinking as.. "These Wagon Wheels biscuits used to be bigger!"
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[stinkwheel]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Time to post Tom Lehrer's "Elements" (from 1955)

https://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html
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[SoND]

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/SoND/periodictable.jpg
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Well that's just buggered up my memory of H-HeLi-BeB-CNOF-NeNaMgAl-SiPsClarKCa
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[stinkwheel]

[Robby]

Is that the periodic table from look around you?

Whoever suggested Francium being used to make a bomb, it's a bit rare. The estimate we were taught was that at any given time there about four atoms of Francium anywhere inside the Earth's atmosphere.

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[stinkwheel]

The periodic table of videos is quite a good one. Proper mad scientist stuff.
https://www.periodicvideos.com/
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Sir Black Pig]

[Handsome]