Zinc metal granules reacts with hydrochloric acid to evolve hydrogen gas. What
difference do you observe if same amount of zinc metal dust reacts with same
concentration of hydrochloric acid?
Answers
Answer:
(a) If in the place of zinc granules, the same amount of zinc dust is taken in the test tube then the rate of the reaction will increase and the reaction will take place more quickly. This is because the surface area per unit volume of powder is more than that of the zinc granules and hence the powder will provide more surface area for the reaction to take place.
(b) If in place of dilute sulphuric acid, we use dilute hydrochloric acid then the reaction will take place as usual because in both cases we are mixing a strong acid with a metal.
(c) If in the place of zinc, copper turning is taken then also the reaction will proceed in a similar way and would lead to the evolution of hydrogen gas as here we are only replacing one metal with another metal in the reactant side of the reaction. In this case, also we are mixing a strong acid with a metal.
(d) If sodium hydroxide is taken in place of dilute sulphuric acid and the tube is heated then the metal will react with the base to form the corresponding salt and will evolve hydrogen gas as per the following reaction:
Zn+2NaOH→Na
2
ZnO
2
+H
2