Metal Activity

We did a metal activity lab and we observed the reactivity of three different metals. The activity of a metal is based on the fact that a more active metal will replace a less active metal in a compound. This may also  be called a single replacement reaction. If an active solid metal is placed in a solution containing a less active metal, one will observe a precipitate forming on the metal. Metals are not charged, they still have all of their electrons. In this lab we had a 24 well plate, 0.1 M solutions of- Copper(II) nitrate, Magnesium nitrate, Zinc nitrate, and Silver nitrate. Pipets full of different ionic compounds mixed with water, copper, magnesium ribbon, and zinc granules. We put a little amount of each metal into the wells. Then we put the solutions in the pipets into the wells with the metals and waited about 5 minutes for them to react and do all the things that they do. After we let them sit for a few minutes, we recorded down the data and got that magnesium reacted with the largest number of solutions, and copper reacted with the smallest number of solutions. Zinc was in the middle of the two. We also learned that the Statue of Liberty is made out of copper, because it reacts with the least amount of solutions.