An iron nail was immersed in a solution of copper sulfate and when it was removed from the solution, it was coated with a layer of copper metal. Hereafter, a different iron nail was immersed in a solution of zinc nitrate and removed this nail rusted?(con)

Question

just as rapidly as a new iron nail. Rank these three metals in order of activity from most active to least active.

a). Fe>Cu>Zn
b). Zn>Fe>Cu
c). Cu>Fe>Zn
d). Zn>Cu>Fe

Noah Aldrich · Accepted Answer

b) #"Zn" > "Fe" > "Cu"#

Reactive metals displace unreactive metal ions from their solutions.

Iron in the first nail was capable of reducing and displacing copper ions in the #"Cu" "SO"_4# solution indicating that #"Fe"# is more reactive than #"Cu"#.

#ul("Fe" (s)) + "CuSO"_4 to ul("Cu"(s)) + "FeSO"_4(aq)#

What's going on with the second nail might not be as evident as the first one. Let's start with an assumption: assuming that iron #"Fe"# is more reactive than zinc such that it is capable of replacing zinc #"Zn"# from its solution.

Immersing the iron nail in the #"Zn"("NO"_3)_2# solution will coat it with a layer of metallic zinc. Coating iron, a metal that rusts- or gets oxidized- rapidly in humid air, with a layer of less reactive metal would hinder its oxidation. By this assumption, coating zinc would make the iron nail not as suspectable to rusting as a nail with no coating. However, the observation that the two nails rust at the same rate disagrees with the assumption meaning that iron is less reactive than zinc. Thus

#"Zn">"Fe"#

Also,

#"Fe">"Cu"#

therefore

#"Zn">"Fe">"Cu"#

Jeremiah Adams · Answer

undefined Whereas the second iron nail rusted because the zinc nitrate solution did not offer the same level of protection against corrosion as the copper sulfate solution, the first iron nail gained a layer of copper as a result of displacement reaction.

An iron nail was immersed in a solution of copper sulfate and when it was removed from the solution, it was coated with a layer of copper metal. Hereafter, a different iron nail was immersed in a solution of zinc nitrate and removed this nail rusted?(con)

just as rapidly as a new iron nail. Rank these three metals in order of activity from most active to least active. a). Fe>Cu>Zn b). Zn>Fe>Cu c). Cu>Fe>Zn d). Zn>Cu>Fe

just as rapidly as a new iron nail. Rank these three metals in order of activity from most active to least active.

a). Fe>Cu>Zn
b). Zn>Fe>Cu
c). Cu>Fe>Zn
d). Zn>Cu>Fe