DISPLACEMENT REACTION...! Chemical reaction in which a less reactive element is replaced in a compound by a more reactive one.

For example, the addition of powdered zinc to a solution of copper(II) sulphate displaces copper metal, which can be detected by its characteristic colour: Zn(s) + CuSO4(aq) ZnSO4(aq) + Cu(s) The copper is taken out of the solution and is deposited as a solid (s).

A more reactive metal will displace (push out), a less reactive metal from a solution of its salt. For example, when an iron nail is dipped into copper sulphate solution, some of the iron metal changes into ions and dissolves into the solution. This causes copper ions from the salt solution to change into copper metal, which plates onto the remaining iron nail.

Overall reaction

What you could observe.

Orange / brown coating of copper metal covering the iron nail. Blue colour of the copper sulphate solution slowly fades as the copper ions are removed from the solution. (Takes a long time) Solution becomes pale green when mostly iron sulphate. (Takes even longer but using iron filings instead of a nail would speed the reaction.) A temperature rise.

When will a reaction occur?

You can predict whether or not a displacement reaction will occur by looking at a reactivity series for metals. A metal will only react with a salt solution if it is higher in reactivity than the metal in the salt. Alternatively, you can find out where to place a metal in the reactivity series by seeing how it reacts with various salt solutions. The metal must be placed above those which it does react with and below those which it doesnt. GROUP 1. Details for the individual metals Lithium Lithium's density is only about half that of water so it floats on the surface, gently fizzing and giving off hydrogen. It gradually reacts and disappears, forming a colourless solution of lithium hydroxide. The reaction generates heat too slowly and lithium's melting point is too high for it to melt (see sodium below). Sodium Sodium also floats on the surface, but enough heat is given off to melt the sodium (sodium has a lower melting point than lithium and the reaction produces heat faster) and it melts almost at once to form a small silvery ball that dashes around the surface. A white trail of sodium hydroxide is seen in the water under the sodium, but this soon dissolves to give a colourless solution of sodium hydroxide. The sodium moves because it is pushed around by the hydrogen which is given off during the reaction. If the sodium becomes trapped on the side of the container, the hydrogen may catch fire to burn with an orange flame. The colour is due to contamination of the normally blue hydrogen flame with sodium compounds. Potassium Potassium behaves rather like sodium except that the reaction is faster and enough heat is given off to set light to the hydrogen. This time the normal hydrogen flame is contaminated by potassium compounds and so is coloured lilac (a faintly bluish pink). Rubidium Rubidium is denser than water and so sinks. It reacts violently and immediately, with everything spitting out of the container again. Rubidium hydroxide solution and hydrogen are formed. Caesium Caesium explodes on contact with water, quite possibly shattering the container. Caesium hydroxide and hydrogen are formed. Summary of the trend in reactivity

The Group 1 metals become more reactive towards water as you go down the Group. GROUP 7. Explaining the decrease in electro negativity This is easily shown using simple dots-and-crosses diagrams for hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride.

The bonding pair of electrons between the hydrogen and the halogen feels the same net pull of 7+ from both the fluorine and the chlorine. (This is exactly the same sort of argument as you have seen in the atomic radius section above.) However, in the chlorine case, the nucleus is further away from that bonding pair. That means that it won't be as strongly attracted as in the fluorine case. The larger pull from the closer fluorine nucleus is why fluorine is more electronegative than chlorine is. Summarising the trend down the Group As the halogen atoms get bigger, any bonding pair gets further and further away from the halogen nucleus, and so is less strongly attracted towards it. In other words, as you go down the Group, the elements become less electronegative. Copper and Diamond Information. Physical Properties Like gold and silver, copper is malleable. That is, it can be bent and shaped without cracking, when either hot or cold. It can be rolled into sheets as thin as 1/500 of an inch. Copper also is ductile, that is, it can be drawn out into thin wire. A copper bar 4 inches thick can be heated, rolled, then drawn into a round wire so thin that it is thinner than a human hair. This wire is 20 million times longer than the original bar! Industry valued copper for these properties. Copper is second only to silver in its ability to conduct electricity, but silver is too expensive for this sort of use. Bronze and brass, however, do not conduct electricity as well as pure copper.

Besides electricity, copper also is an excellent conductor of heat, making it an important metal in cookware, refrigerators, and radiators. Copper is resistant to corrosion, that is, it will not rust. If the air around it often is damp, it will change from its usual reddish orange colour to reddish-brown. Eventually, it is coated with a green film called a "patina" that stops all further corrosion. The melting point of copper is 1083.4 degrees Centigrade. Liquid copper boils at 2567 degrees Centigrade. Diamond:

Physical Properties of Diamond: - Transparent crystal. - It is extremely hard. - It has a very high dispersion index. - It also has a very high thermal conductivity. Chemical Properties of Diamond: - Diamond is the least compressible and stiff substance. - It has a very low thermal expansion. - It is chemically inert. - It has a negative work function or negative electron affinity that results in its repelling of water and readily accepting wax and grease. Diamond, as a rule does not melt or boil under ordinary atmosphere. It simply goes up in smoke (converts directly to CO2 when heated to 800 degrees F in the presence of oxygen). Its melting point (at very high temps) is roughly 3500 degrees Celsius (very hot), but you need extreme pressure to achieve it (otherwise, it converts to CO2). Its melting point is the highest of all known materials, in large part because of the covalent bonds and the fact its atoms (carbon) are quite small and thus pack very tightly.