Reactions of Acids with Metals

Keywords

Acids, metals, salt, hydrogen, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, chlorides, sulfates, fizzing, chemical compounds.

Introduction

The chemical reaction between metals and acids can create the by-products of salt and hydrogen. Not all will be visible to see this happen, but some of the metals in the periodic table will show this by fizzing.

Zinc & Acids

When Zinc reacts with acids it creates different chemical compounds. When we add a piece of zinc to hydrochloric acid for example, it will release small bubbles of hydrogen and form zinc chloride. The word equation for this is:

Zinc (Zn) + Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) => Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2 + Hydrogen (H2)

Additionally, if we mix zinc with sulfuric acid, we get zinc sulfate and hydrogen bubbles the same as with hydrochloric acid. The word equation is this:

Zinc (Zn) + Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) => Zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) + Hydrogen (H2)

Interesting fact: acids react with metals. When they do, they can produce hydrogen. They can also perform double displacement, which creates a precipatate, or solution.

Chlorides & Sulfates

When we use hydrochloric acid with a substance, and there's a reaction, the end result of these reactions will create a chrloride. So, if you have zinc and add the acid to it, it will create zinc chloride, as explained above. The same goes for other metals - magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium chloride and so on.

Equally, the same thing happens when you mix metals with sulfuric acid. Except this time, they are called sulfates. So, as per the examples above, they would include zinc sulfate, magnesium sulfate, copper sulfate, lead sulfate and iron sulfate.