Question

Redox/Oxidation lab with Metals and Halogens

So basically we were testing different reactions and observing changes. I want to know if my data has the "right" reactions, as the supplies used in the chemistry lab were contaminated a LOT by people who used pipettes wrong. So now I'm confused.

Part A:

Each tube had 1 mL of 6M HCl. Different pieces of metal were added in each tube. Here are my results:

Tube	Metal	Reaction
1	Mg	bubbling
2	Fe	none
3	Cu	heat/steam
4	Zn	bubbly
5	Sn	steam (?)

Part B:

Each tube had 1 mL of a designated solution and then various metals added to them (separately)

Solution	Reaction
	Zinc	Copper	Iron	Magnesium	Tin
AgNO3	Foggy	black	none	dissolved	dissolved
Cu(SO4)	None	none	red	dissolved	none
FeSO4	orange?	none	none	fizzy(?)	none
SnCl2	foggy?	none	none	dissolved	none
Zn(NO3)2	None	none	none	none	none

Part C:

1 mL of cyclohexane and a few mL of the element-saturated water were added to different tubes. Observing color on top and on bottom (they separated)

	Br2	Cl2	I2
cyclohexane layer (top)	violet	clear	violet
water layer (bottom)	red	clear	red

Then comparing that with testing them with different stuff...

Part D:

1 mL of NaBr, NaI or NaCl was added to various tubes of 1 mL of either bromine, chlorine or iodine saturated water. Colors were observed as top color/bottom color:

	NaBr	NaCl	NaI
Br2	N/A	violet/red	violet/red
Cl2	clear/clear	N/A	pink/yellow
I2	violet/red/orange	violet/orange	N/A

Then we're supposed to write net ionic equations for every reaction in the experiment. no idea how to do that so an example would be nice. Then we're supposed to devise an activity series of the metals (plus hydrogen) listed in order of decreasing activity.

For the halogens we're supposed to do an activity series in order of decreasing strength as oxidizing agents.

I know it's a lot to ask, but I just basically want someone who knows chemistry really well to tell me the proper reactions for this, I'm having trouble finding it online but i'll continue to search.

Thanks

Answer 1

Part A

Mg +2 HCl ----> MgCl2 + H2 bubbling of gas observed correct

Fe+2 HCl ----> FeCl2 +H2 The reaction might be little slow but occurs.

Cu + HCl _----> no reaction worng observation

Zn + 2HCl ----> ZnCl2 + H2 bubbles gas should be observed

Sn + 2HCL----> SnCl2 +H2 slow reaction, but gas liberates

Thus the rectivity of these metals is Mg> Zn> Fe>Sn >H2>Cu

Part B

Aq. Ag(NO3) colorless solution: all the metals listed are more reactive than silver, thus can replace metallic silver as balck precipitate

Aq. CuSO4 blue solution: Zn, Fe, Mg and Sn are more reactive and replace copper giving reddish metal

Aq. FeSO4 pale green solution: Only Zn, and Mg can replace to give reddishiron metal

Aq. Zn (NO3)2 colorless solution: only Mg can react and replace zinc as greysih metal

Part C

Chlorine is pale yellow-green gas which dissolves less in water thus yielding colorless solution in both aqueous and organic layers

bromine red liquid dissolves both in water and organic leayer giving the respective colors

siimilarly iodine also also dissolves in both

Part D

As the reactivity of halogens is Cl2> Br2 >I2 the more reactive halogen displaces the less reactive halogen from its saltsolution. Thus chlorine replaces both bromine and iodine as brown and brown /violet precipitate respectively.

Net ionic equations are the equations that sshow only the chemical species that paticipate in the reaction and omits the spectator ions.

example:

reaction between silver nitrate and sodium chloride

AgNO_3(aq) + NaCl(aq) ----> AgCl (s) + NaNO₃(aq)

Net ionic reaction for this is

Ag⁺ + Cl^- ----> AgCl(s) since sodium and nitrate ions remain as spectator ions in solution.

I hope I am clear enough for you to follow