Metals are found in our coins, buildings and tools, and one important thing about metals is how they react and how easily they combine with other substances. Some metals change quickly when exposed to air or water, while others will stay unchanged.
What Is Metal Reactivity?
Metal reactivity works through electrons. Metals have loose electrons in their outer layers, but when a metal gives up these electrons, it reacts with other substances. The easier a metal gives up electrons, the more reactive it is. This explains why some metals behave so differently. Sodium reacts with water, creating enough heat to cause flames, but gold remains unchanged even after being buried for thousands of years.
The Reactivity Series
Scientists rank metals from most to least reactive in the reactivity series. At the top is potassium, and this is followed by sodium and calcium, which are all highly reactive metals. In the middle range are metals like aluminium, zinc and iron. At the bottom are copper, silver and gold, which hardly react at all with their surroundings.
What Affects Metal Reactivity?
Metals with only one electron in their outer layer are more reactive, and larger metal atoms can react more easily because their outer electrons are further away from the centre. The arrangement of the inner electrons is also important because they can block the pull from the nucleus. Metals can also be changed by surface treatments, such as those carried out by https://www.poeton.co.uk/surface-treatments/.
Why Metal Reactivity Matters
Metal reactivity matters because it explains why iron rusts but gold doesn’t, and it helps engineers choose the right metals for outdoor structures or cooking pots. Knowing about metal reactivity also tells us how to extract metals from rocks and lets people know how to safely handle reactive metals. It’s important for making batteries because metal reactions create electricity, and even a simple thing like why some jewellery tarnishes and some doesn’t is due to metal reactivity.
Knowing about metal reactivity means that we can better understand the natural behaviours of elements that have shaped our lives for thousands of years.