Activity series

In chemistry, the reactivity series is a series of metals, in order of reactivity from highest to
lowest. It is used to determine the products of single displacement reactions, whereby metal
A will replace another metal B in a solution if A is higher in the series.

Activity series of some of the more common metals, listed in descending order of reactivity.

Metals Metal Ion Reactivity

K K+

Na Na+

Li Li+
reacts with water
Ba Ba2+

Sr Sr2+

Ca Ca2+

Mg Mg2+ reacts with acids

Al Al3+

Mn Mn2+

Zn Zn2+

Cr Cr2+

Fe Fe2+

Cd Cd2+

Co Co2+
Ni Ni2+

Sn Sn2+

Pb Pb2+

H2 H+ included for comparison

Sb Sb2+

Bi Bi2+

Cu Cu2+
highly unreactive
2+
Hg Hg

Ag Ag+

Au Au3+

Pt Pt+

When a metal in elemental form is placed in a solution of another metal salt it may be more
energetically feasible for this "elemental metal" to exist as an ion and the "ionic metal" to exist as
the element. Therefore the elemental metal will "displace" the ionic metal and the two swap
places. Only a metal higher in the reactivity series will displace another.

A metal can displace metal ions listed below it in the activity series, but not above. For example,
zinc is more active than copper and is able to displace copper ions from solution

Zn(s) + Cu 2+(aq) Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s)

Siver, on the other hand, cannot displace copper ions from solution.

It is important to distinguish between the displacement of hydrogen from an acid and hydrogen
from water. Sodium is highly active and is able to displace hydrogen from water:

2 Na (s) + 2 H2O (l) 2 NaOH (aq) + H2 (g)

Less active metals like iron or zinc cannot displace hydrogen from water but do readily react
with acids:
 Zn (s) + H2SO4 (aq) ZnSO4 (aq) + H2 (g)

Those metals that can displace H+ ions from acids are easily recognized by their position above
H in the activity series. The boundary between the metals that react with water and those that
don't is harder to spot. For example, calcium is quite reactive with water, whereas magnesium
does not react with cold water but does displace hydrogen from steam. A more sophisticated
calculation involving electrode potentials is required to make accurate predictions in this area.

Explanation

The reactivity of metals is due to the difference in stability of their electron configurations as
atoms and as ions. As they are all metals they will form positive ions when they react.

Potassium has a single outer shell electron to lose to obtain a stable "Noble gas" electron
configuration; the precious metals which exist in the d-block cannot form structures which are
much more stable than their elemental state with the loss of just a few electrons. Metals that
require the loss of only one electron to form stable ions are more reactive than similar metals
which require the loss of more than one electron. Group 1A metals are the most reactive for that
reason.

Metals with a greater total number of electrons tend to be more reactive as their outermost
electrons (the ones which will be lost) exist further from the positive nucleus and therefore they
are held less strongly.

Activity Series
The activity series is a list of metals and their half-reactions arranged in order of decreasing ease
of oxidation or increasing ability to take an electron.
How do you use this series? Very simply, any substance on the right-hand side of the arrows will
be strong enough to take an electron from any substance above it on the left-hand side of the
arrows.

For example, if a Ag+ cation gets close to an Fe atom then the Ag+ cation will take an electron
away from the Fe atom. In terms of a chemical reaction the activity series predicts

2Ag+ + Fe 2 Ag + Fe2+

In contrast, when a Fe2+ cation meets a Ag atom, the Fe2+ cation will not be strong enough to take
electrons away from the Ag atom. That is,

2 Ag + Fe2+ X 2Ag+ + Fe
What happens when we mix Ca metal and HCl acid?

Ca(s) + HCl(aq) ?

First, we write the complete ionic equation for the reactants.

Ca(s) + H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Then we ask if H+(aq) is strong enough to take an electron away from Ca(s)?

We look at the activity series and see that H+ is below Ca so H+(aq) can indeed take an electron
from Ca(s). Now we can write the two half-reactions for this reaction. Since H+(aq) gains electrons,
it undergoes reduction, so we write its half-reaction as

2H+(aq) + 2 e- H2(g)

And, since Ca loses electrons, it undergoes oxidation, so we we write its half-reaction as

Ca(s) Ca2+(aq) + 2e-

Finally to get a net ionic equation we add these two half-reactions together to obtain:

Ca(s) + 2H+(aq) Ca2+(aq) + H2(g)

Again making certain that all the electrons on both sides of the equation cancel. After putting the
spectator ions back in we can write the balanced molecular equation:

Ca(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2(aq) + H2(g)

Using the activity series can you explain why the metals gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are
so highly valued and called the precious metals?

Generally, many metals will react with acids to form a salt and hydrogen gas.

Metal + Acid Salt + H2(g)

Let's look at some other examples. What do you expect will happen when Zn metal is put into a
beaker of HCl(aq)

Using the activities series we can predict:

Zn(s) + 2 HCl(aq) Zn2+ + 2 Cl- + H2(g)

how about when Cu metal is put into a beaker of HCl(aq)? In this case the activity series tell's us
there's no reaction. So in summary, by simply looking at the Activity Series you can predict
which redox reactions will occur and which won't.
What will happen when copper wire is placed into a AgNO3 solution?

The complete ionic equation for the reactants is

Cu(s) + Ag+(aq) + NO3-(aq) ?

From the activity series we see that Ag+ is stronger than Cu so a reaction will occur. The half-
reactions are:

Cu(s) Cu2+(aq) + 2 e-

2(Ag+(aq) + e- Ag(s))

__________________________________

Cu(s) + 2 Ag+(aq) Cu2+(aq) + Ag(s)