Question

Identify the type of reaction taking place and write a balanced chemical reaction for Zinc reacts with silver nitrate to produce zinc nitrate and silver.

Answer 1

Displacement reaction:

• In a molecule, a displacement reaction occurs when an atom or a group of atoms is displaced by another atom.
• It is of two types either a single displacement reaction in which one atom replaces the other or a double displacement reaction in which more than one atom replaces the other atoms.
• The given reaction is a single displacement reaction as only silver metal gets displaced by zinc metal.

$\underset{\mathrm{Zinc}}{\mathrm{Zn}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{nitrate}}{{\mathrm{AgNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Zinc}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\mathrm{Zn}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Silver}}{\mathrm{Ag}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$

• The above reaction is an unbalanced equation where the zinc metal reacts with silver nitrate to produce zinc nitrate by replacing silver metal because it is more reactive than silver.
• To balance both sides we have to multiply silver nitrate by two. Therefore the balanced equation is $\underset{\mathrm{Zinc}}{\mathrm{Zn}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{nitrate}}{2{\mathrm{AgNO}}_3}\to \underset{\mathrm{Zinc}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\mathrm{Zn}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+\underset{\mathrm{Silver}}{2\mathrm{Ag}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$

Therefore, the given reaction is a single displacement reaction.