Reactions of Acids Quiz

All of these forms of metals react in predictable ways with acids. Typically you will only have to understand the effect of strong acids (sulfuric/nitric/hydrochloric acids) on these metals.

Metals and acids –

Metals always react in the following way:

Metal + acid → salt + hydrogen

For example:

Aluminium + sulfuric acid → aluminium sulfate + hydrogen

This happens because all acids have hydrogen, which is split away from the acid when it reacts with a metal. The metal actually displaces the hydrogen from the acid, taking its place and making the salt. You can always predict the name of the salt because it takes the name from the acid and metal combined. e.g.

sulfuric acid + zinc → zinc sulfate + hydrogen

Metal oxides and hydroxides –

Both of these forms of metals react in the same way because they have the same reactants – hydrogen and oxygen.

Metal oxides + acid → salt + water

Metal hydroxides + acid → salt + water

Water (H₂O) is produced because the metal oxide or hydroxide contains oxygen and the acid contains hydrogen. Hydrogen and oxygen can react together to form water. Remember, hydroxide is an ion that looks like this: OH⁻, so sodium hydroxide has the formula NaOH and sodium oxide has the formula NaO. If you’re unsure why this is the case, you should look at ionic bonding.

For example:

Sodium oxide + hydrochloric acid → sodium chloride + water

Sodium hydroxide + hydrochloric acid → sodium chloride + water

Metal carbonates and acids –

Because the carbonate contains carbon, we end up with the additional product carbon dioxide. They take the form:

Metal carbonate + acid → salt + water + carbon dioxide

Example with calcium:

Calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid → calcium chloride + water + carbon dioxide