Metals with Cations
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Reactions Between Metals and Cations

Another common type of redox reaction is the one between metal atoms and and the cations of other metals. You will see quite a few of these reactions when you do the lab work for this lesson.

Example

We will use the reaction between zinc metal and copper(II) ion as an example. Here you can see a piece of zinc metal in a copper(II) nitrate solution. Zinc metal with cupric ion - start.
In time, a reaction occurs. sponrx2.JPG (8976 bytes)
The equation for the reaction can be written in this way. But let's dissect this equation to see what is really going on.

Zn + Cu(NO3)2 rtarrow.gif (850 bytes) Cu + Zn(NO3)2

The nitrate ions are spectator ions in this reaction. If we leave them out we can focus on the atoms and ions that are directly involved in the reaction.

Zn + Cu2+ rtarrow.gif (850 bytes) Cu + Zn2+

Taking this one step further we can separate the half-reactions of zinc and copper from one another. Note that zinc is being oxidized and losing two electrons. Copper is being reduced and gaining two electrons. Specifically, metallic zinc (Zn) is being oxidized and copper(II) ion (Cu2+) is being reduced.

Zn              rtarrow.gif (850 bytes) 2 e- + Zn2+

2 e- + Cu2+ rtarrow.gif (850 bytes) Cu             

More Examples in the Lab

You will see many more examples of this type of reaction when you do your lab work for this lesson. When you do that it will be very important to make note of which form (ion or atom) of each element is reacting.

 

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