1
1 Aluminium is more reactive than copper.
When aluminium is added to aqueous copper(II) sulfate, no immediate reaction is seen.
Explain why.
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[Total: 1]
2 The hull of a ship is made from steel (mainly iron). Metal blocks are placed on the ship’s hull to
prevent rusting.
water water
ship’s hull metal
block
Use your knowledge of the reactivity series to explain why:
● magnesium is suitable to use as the metal blocks
● copper is not suitable to use as the metal blocks.
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[Total: 2]
3 Acids have characteristic properties.
Hydrochloric acid reacts with magnesium carbonate.
Name the products of this reaction and give the observations.
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[Total: 4]
2
4 The order of reactivity of zinc, magnesium, calcium and barium is shown below.
zinc → magnesium → calcium → barium
least reactive most reactive
(a) Equal-sized pieces of zinc, magnesium, calcium and barium are placed in water.
Some observations from these reactions are shown in the table.
Complete the box for barium.
metal observations
zinc no reaction with cold water
magnesium gives a few bubbles with hot water, does not disappear
calcium gives off bubbles steadily with cold water, gets smaller slowly
barium
[2]
(b) Give the name of a metal in the above table which is extracted by heating with carbon.
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(c) Suggest why barium cannot be extracted using carbon.
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[Total: 4]
5 A major use of aluminium is the manufacture of pots and pans. One reason for this is its resistance
to corrosion.
(a) Explain why aluminium, a reactive metal, is resistant to corrosion.
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(b) Suggest two other reasons why aluminium is suitable for making pots and pans.
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[Total: 3]
3
6 One way of establishing a reactivity series is by displacement reactions.
A series of experiments was carried out using the metals lead, magnesium, zinc and silver.
Each metal was added in turn to aqueous solutions of the metal nitrates.
The order of reactivity was found to be:
Complete the table.
✓ = reacts
✗ = does not react
metal
aqueous lead magnesium zinc silver
solution Pb Mg Zn Ag
lead(II) ✓ ✓ ✗
nitrate
magnesium
nitrate
zinc
nitrate
silver
nitrate
[3]
[Total: 3]
4
7 The table shows the rates of reaction of four metals with steam.
metal rate of reaction
magnesium fast
nickel slow
sodium very fast
tin very slow
Put the four metals in order of their reactivity.
Put the least reactive metal first.
least reactive most reactive
[2]
[Total: 2]
