Question

Explain how you could use displacement reactions to distinguish between
iron and zinc. You may use any solutions you choose.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Experiment 1 :-

Take an iron nail and place it inside a test tube containing copper sulphate (CuSO4) solution for some time. The blue colour of the solution turns green due to the formation of ferrous sulphate and reddish brown copper is deposited on iron nail. It is also because more reactive iron displaces copper sulphate solution.

Equation:-

Fe + CuSO4 → FeSO4 + Cu

Experiment 2 :-

If we put a piece of zinc metal into Copper(II) sulphate solution, the zinc displaces copper in this case, and is said to be more active.

Equation:-

Zn + CuSO4 → ZnSO4 + Cu