Chapter U5, Problem C21.4RE

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation: Whether a single exchange reaction occurs or not when a piece of aluminum foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M AgNO}}_3$ and when a piece of silver foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ should be determined.

Concept Introduction: In order to determine the products formed due to single displacement reaction a series of metals are arranged in reactivity order from highest to lowest. This reactivity series helps in predicting which cation will replace the other from its aqueous solution. A less reactive metal is displaced by more reactive metal.

Answer to Problem C21.4RE

Aluminum displaces the silver on placing a piece of aluminum foil in a beaker of ${\text{1 M AgNO}}_3$ and forms ${\text{Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ .

No reaction occurs when a piece of silver foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ .

Explanation of Solution

In order to determine whether any reaction will take place or not when a piece of aluminum foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M AgNO}}_3$ and when a piece of silver foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ , the position of both the ions in the reactivity series should be checked and if in the reactivity series, the silver is placed above the aluminum then it will displace the aluminumbut if silver is present below the aluminum then it won’t be able to displace silver due to low reactivity.

On comparing both the metals on reactivity series, the silver is placed below the aluminum that means silver is less reactive than aluminum and, thus it is unable to displace the aluminum and no reaction occurswhen a piece of silver foil is placed in a beaker of ${\text{1 M Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ .

Since, aluminum is more reactive than silver and thus, it displaces the silver on placing a piece of aluminum foil in a beaker of ${\text{1 M AgNO}}_3$ and forms ${\text{Al(NO}}_3{)}_3$ . The complete balanced single displacement chemical reaction is:

  ${\text{3AgNO}}_3\text{ + Al }\to {\text{ Al(NO}}_3{)}_3\text{ + 3Ag}$