Question

Write the balanced chemical equation for the below reaction and identify the type of reaction in this case:

Thermite reaction- Iron (III) oxide reacts with Aluminum to give molten iron and aluminum oxide.

Answer 1

Chemical reaction:

• A chemical reaction is a process by which one or more chemical substances known as reactants form a new chemical compound known as products.

Balanced chemical reaction:

• A balanced reaction involves an equal number of atoms for each element on the reactant and product side.

Thermite reaction:

• The thermite reaction is an exothermic reaction where Iron (III) oxide reacts with Aluminum to give molten Iron and Aluminum oxide.
• Iron is denoted as $\mathrm{Fe}$ (for ferrous) which is derived from Latin ‘Ferrum’.
• Aluminum ($\mathrm{Al}$) reacts with oxygen to form Aluminum oxide ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$
• The reaction can be written as
• $$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+\mathrm{Al}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\to \mathrm{Fe}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+\mathrm{heat} \\ \mathrm{Iron}\left(\mathrm{III}\right)\mathrm{oxide}\mathrm{Aluminum}\mathrm{Iron}\mathrm{Aluminum}\mathrm{oxide} \end{gathered}$$

Type of reaction:

• This reaction is an example of a single displacement reaction.

Displacement reaction:

• A displacement reaction is one where a more reactive metal displaces a low reactive metal with the release of energy.
• In the above reaction, Aluminum being a more reactive metal displaces a lesser reactive metal which is Iron in Iron (III) oxide to form Aluminum oxide.

Thus, thermite reaction is a type of Single-displacement reaction.