Question

What happens when a piece of silver metal is added to copper sulfate solution? Also, write the balanced chemical equation if the reaction occurs

Answer 1

Reaction of Silver with Copper sulfate:

• There will be no reaction when silver$\left(\mathrm{Ag}\right)$ reacts with copper sulfate solution $\left({\mathrm{CuSO}}_4\right)$ as silver is a less reactive metal.

$\mathrm{Ag}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{CuSO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to \mathrm{No}\mathrm{reaction}$

Activity series:

• The activity series is a listing of metals categorized in the order of their decreasing activities.
• In the activity series, Silver$\left(\mathrm{Ag}\right)$ lies below Copper$\left(\mathrm{Cu}\right)$, thus it will not displace copper from its solution.
• As a result, there will be no displacement reaction.