Question

Question #f563c

Answer 1

Zinc reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce hydrogen gas because it's more reactive than hydrogen, and thus displaces the latter from an acid.

By comparison, copper cannot displace hydrogen from `HCl` because it's less reactive than hydrogen.

So, zinc will react with hydrochloric acid to produce zinc chloride and hydrogen gas

`Zn_((s)) + 2HCl_((aq)) -> ZnCl_(2(aq)) + H_(2(g))`

Zinc will reduce the hydrogen and get oxidized in the process.

In copper's case, no reaction takes place when you place it in hydrochloric acid

`Cu_((s)) + HCl_((aq)) -> color(red)("NO REACTION")`

The video shows an experiment to determine the placement of three different metals (Cu, Zn and Mg) on the activity series.

Video from: Noel Pauller