Question

Define displacement reaction with the help of an example.

Answer 1

Part 1: Definition of displacement reaction:

• A displacement reaction is a chemical reaction in which the less reactive element from a compound is replaced by a more reactive element.
• It can generally be represented as:

$\mathrm{AB}+\mathrm{C}\to \mathrm{AC}+\mathrm{B}$

Part 2: Example of displacement reaction:

• When zinc is added to a copper sulphate solution, it displaces the copper metal from the copper sulphate solution to form zinc sulphate and copper.

$\underset{\mathrm{Zinc}}{\mathrm{Zn}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Copper}\mathrm{sulfate}}{{\mathrm{CuSO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Zinc}\mathrm{sulfate}}{{\mathrm{ZnSO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Copper}}{\mathrm{Cu}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$