Question

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

Answer 1

Recation of Zinc with Copper sulfate solution.

• When zinc $\left(\mathrm{Zn}\right)$reacts with copper sulfate solution $\left({\mathrm{CuSO}}_4\right)$, zinc sulfate solution $\left({\mathrm{ZnSO}}_4\right)$ is formed along with copper metal $\left(\mathrm{Cu}\right)$.
• This type of reaction is known as a "displacement reaction".
• As in the reactivity series, zinc is placed above copper, thus copper is replaced by zinc easily.
• The chemical equation can be depicted as:

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

• The reaction shown above is already balanced.