Lesson 2 of 6

Metals with water and acids

Goal: Compare how metals react with water and with acids.

Puzzles for this lesson

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A strip of metal in a test tube of acid, with bubbles streaming up from it

The faster a metal reacts with water or with acid, the more reactive it is.

metal + water → metal hydroxide + hydrogen

metal + acid → salt + hydrogen

  • The bubbles are hydrogen gas. The faster the bubbles come, the faster the reaction.
  • A few metals react with cold water. Potassium, sodium and calcium do.
  • More metals react with dilute acid. Magnesium, zinc and iron all fizz. Copper, silver and gold do not react with water or with dilute acid.

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Key words in this lesson

Hydrogen The gas made when a metal reacts with water or an acid

Salt The compound made, with hydrogen, when a metal reacts with an acid

For teachers: AQA 3.6.1 · Pearson Edexcel 26.1, 26.2 · Cambridge 8Cc.03