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WEEK 5
TOPIC: METALS AND THEIR COMPOUNDS
CONTENTS:
PERIOD 1: RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF METALS AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS
RELATIVE ABUNDANCE
Metals are widely distributed in the earth’s crust either as compounds or in the free metallic form. More than 80 of the known elements are metals except for metals like silver, gold, and platinum, most metals are not found free in nature. They are rather too reactive to exist as free elements. They are more often found as compounds in the form of ores. These ores can exist either as the oxides, hydroxides, trioxocarbonates, sulphates, sulphides, chlorides or nitrate of the metals. Some of the metals are also found in the form of solutions because their stable compounds are stable.
The very reactive metals for example sodium and potassium usually found combined with other elements. For example, they are found as chlorides or carbonates which are very stable compounds. Moderately reactive metals, such as zinc and lead, are usually found as oxides or sulphide while the least reactive metals are usually found in un combined state, for example, gold which is found almost entirely as the free metals.
CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF METALS
Activity Series of Metals
The reactivity of a metal depends on the ease with which its atoms lose electrons; the ease varies from one metal to another. When common metals are arranged in the order of their ability to lose electrons and act as reducing agents, the activity series is obtained.
K
Na
Ca Very Reactive
Mg
Al
Zn
Fe
Sn Moderately Reactive
Pb
(H)
Cu
Hg
Ag Least Reactive
Pt
Au Least reactive (weakest reducing agent)
Of all the metals listed above, potassium K is the most electropositive and hence the strongest reducing agent, white fold, an is the weakest.
The activity series arranges the metals in the order of their ability to react and displace the ions of one another from the solutions of their salts. Generally, a metal higher up in the series will displace the ions of metals lower down the series from the solutions of their salts. For instance, Zn metal will displace or replace ions of copper in a solution of a copper II salt.
Zn(s) + CuSO4 (aq) → Cu(s) + ZnSO4(aq)
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