Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Reactions of Metals with oxygen and water

Metals react with oxygen depending on how reactive they are.

This is termed as either burning, oxidation, corrosion or rusting.
The term rusting is for the reaction of iron with oxygen only.

General equation:
Metal + oxygen --> metal oxide
Iron + Oxygen --> iron oxide (rust)


Metals react with water again depending on how reactive they are.

Highly reactive metals react to form metal hydroxides.

General equation:
Metal + water --> metal hydroxide + Hydrogen gas
Sodium + water --> sodium hydroxide + hydrogen gas

Less slows reactive metals will react slowly with HOT water to form metal oxides.

General equation:
Metal + steam --> metal oxide + hydrogen gas
Copper + steam --> copper oxide + hydrogen gas





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