Metals Affected By Acid
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
Q:
How do acids affect metal (reactivity)
- Sam (age 12)
Kennesaw, GA
- Sam (age 12)
Kennesaw, GA
A:
Sam:
I’m not entirely sure how to answer your question, so I’ll approach it from several angles.
When you add a strong acid to a metal, you produce hydrogen gas and a compound with the acid anion and metal ion.
For example:
Mg + 2HCl -----> MgCl2 + H2
or
Na + H2SO4 ----> Na2SO4 + H2
The reaction is a so called oxidation-reduction reaction.
Magnesium is oxidized (loses electrons) to go from being in elemental form to that of the Mg+2 ion. (in MgCl2)
Hydrogen is reduced (gains electrons) to go from being H+ (in HCl) to Hydrogen gas.
The reactivity of the metal is reduced when acid is added. Elemental metals go from a more reactive uncombined form to a less reactive ionic form, generally speaking. (More so for the alkali and alkali earth metals than the transition metals)
Jason
I’m not entirely sure how to answer your question, so I’ll approach it from several angles.
When you add a strong acid to a metal, you produce hydrogen gas and a compound with the acid anion and metal ion.
For example:
Mg + 2HCl -----> MgCl2 + H2
or
Na + H2SO4 ----> Na2SO4 + H2
The reaction is a so called oxidation-reduction reaction.
Magnesium is oxidized (loses electrons) to go from being in elemental form to that of the Mg+2 ion. (in MgCl2)
Hydrogen is reduced (gains electrons) to go from being H+ (in HCl) to Hydrogen gas.
The reactivity of the metal is reduced when acid is added. Elemental metals go from a more reactive uncombined form to a less reactive ionic form, generally speaking. (More so for the alkali and alkali earth metals than the transition metals)
Jason
(published on 10/22/2007)