Tag: chemical properties of metals

The most active halogen is fluorine. This is due to the small size and high electronegativity of Fluorine.

Fluorine, a pale yellow gas, is the least dense and chemically the most active, displacing the other halogens from their compounds and even displacing oxygen from water. Chlorine, a yellow-green gas, is denser and less reactive than fluorine.

$Mg+{H _2SO _{4}} _{(dil)}\longrightarrow MgSO _4+H _2$

Metals react with water to form a metal hydroxide or metal oxide and hydrogen gas. Intensity of reaction depends upon its chemical reactivity.

Calcium is more reactive according to reactivity series and it will displace iron in any reaction.

Metals low in actively series are very unreactive. The oxides of these metals can be reduced to metals by heating alone.

Aluminium doesn't react with water because, a thin oxidise layer is formed on it. But it reacts with acid and displace Hydrogen in it. Because, The acid react with acidic layer and remove it from Aluminium.  

$Li$ is the strongest reducing agent as its reduction potential is low $(-3.05)$.

With progressive increase in atomic number, the reduction potential of halogens decreases, thus oxidising power also decreases. Hence, a halogen with lower atomic number will oxidise the halide ion of higher atomic number and therefore, will liberate them from their salt solution.
Hence, the reaction
${ Cl } _{ 2 }+2{ F }^{ - }\rightarrow 2{ Cl }^{ - }+{ F } _{ 2 }$
is not possible.

An activity series is a list of substances ranked in order of relative reactivity. The most active metals are at the top of the table and least reactive at the bottom of the table. In chemistry, a reactivity series (or activity series ) is an empirical, calculated, and structurally analytical progression of series of metals, arranged by their reactivity from highest to lowest.