#ACTIVITY SERIES OF METALS SERIES#

Platinum is one of the least reactive metals and therefore lies at the bottom of the reactivity series. Which is the least active or reactive metal?Īns. The table below, explain reactions of metals with oxygen (air), water, dilute acids, and other salts solutions, at various level of the reactivity series.

#ACTIVITY SERIES OF METALS SERIES#

Metals at the top of the reactivity series are difficult to obtain from their ores.The activity series facilitates the comparative study of the metals in terms of the degree of their reactivity.Metals at the top of the reactivity series have the ability to displace metals that are placed lower from their salt solutions.It is because, like metals, it too loses an electron and becomes positively charged (H +) ion. Although being a non-metal, hydrogen is included in the reactivity series of metals.The ease, with which a metal in solution loses electrons and forms a positive ion, decreases down the series, i.e.Special Features of the Reactivity or Activity Series of Metals: Among the most commonly known metals, the most active cesium is at the top and the least active platinum is at the bottom of the reactivity series.

The more readily metal loses its electrons, the more active it is, and higher up it is in reactivity series. The activity of a metal depends upon its capability to lose electrons in the solution state to form positive ions. For example, zinc being more active than copper replaces it from copper sulfate in solution state to form zinc sulfate and free copper.

In a displacement reaction, a metal higher up in reactivity series displaces all other metals in a compound, which lies below it. It helps us to predict that particular metal can displace another metal from a compound or not. Metal activity or reactivity series finds its utility in the study of displacement reactions.

Activity series of metals