Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical

Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Displacement Reactions of Zinc and Copper Metal

Lab Report

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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction:
In chemistry, displacement reactions occur when a more reactive element
displaces a less reactive element from a solution. Displacement reactions are very
important chemical reactions of chemistry. They are used in many ways in various
fields. For example, we use electroplating to prevent iron objects from rusting
which is based on displacement reaction.

What Happens When Zinc Reacts with Copper Sulphate Solution?

When zinc is introduced to copper sulfate solution, the zinc begins to displace
the copper ions and they start to move away from one another. This process of
displacement is called a redox reaction, which takes place when an oxidizing
agent such as copper loses electrons and a reducing agent such as zinc gains
them. As zinc continues to be released into the solution, it slowly starts to
dissolve in the copper sulfate and eventually forms a new compound with
different properties. This new compound often has a bluish-green color because
of the presence of copper, and it will also have properties like more acidic or basic
than its initial components as it combines with other elements from the reaction.

The Reactivity Series:

The reactivity series is a list of elements arranged according to their reactivity,
with the most reactive elements placed at the top and the least reactive elements
at the bottom. It is important to remember that an element can only displace
another element if it is considered more reactive. In this case, zinc (Zn) is higher
up on the reactivity series than copper (Cu) which means that it has greater
reactivity and can therefore displace copper from CuSO4 solutions.

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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ions in Solution:
When zinc displaces copper from CuSO4 solutions, it forms two new
compounds – ZnSO4 and Cu(NO3)2. This happens because ions are formed when
metals dissolve in water. The ions then move around freely until they find other
ions they can bond with. In solutions like copper sulphate (CuSO4), there are both
copper (Cu +2) and sulphate (SO 4 -2) ions present, so these two ions will bond
together to form the compound CuSO4. When zinc is added to this solution, its
presence leads to the formation of two new compounds – ZnSO4 and Cu(NO3)2 –
since it has displaced some of the copper ions from bonding with sulphate ions.

Oxidation-Reduction Reactions:
In addition to displacement reactions, oxidation-reduction reactions also play an
important role in explaining why zinc displaces copper in CuSO4 solutions.
Oxidation-reduction reactions involve the transfer of electrons between two
substances, with one substance gaining electrons while the other loses them. Zinc
atoms have a higher affinity for electrons than copper atoms, meaning they will
be more likely to gain electrons during an oxidation-reduction reaction than their
less reactive counterparts. The result is that zinc will take electrons away from
copper atoms which will then be released into solution and form new compounds
such as ZnSO 4 or Cu (NO 3) 2.

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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Displacement Reactions of Zinc and Copper Metal:

Chemical Concept Demonstrated: Oxidation/reduction reactions between
metals and metal ions
Demonstration:
● In the first beaker half-filled with 0.1M CuSO 4 solution, zinc metal is
added.
● In the second beaker half-filled with 0.1M ZnSO 4 solution, copper metal
is added.
● Iron metal is immersing in the 0.1M CuSO4 solution.

Observations:

The zinc metal is coated with dark-black elemental copper. The copper metal,
however, has no reaction with the ZnSO4 solution.
The iron metal is coated with red-bronze metallic copper.

Explanations (including important chemical equations):

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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Zn (s) + CuSO4 (aq) Cu (s) + ZnSO4 (aq)
stronger weaker
reducing stronger oxidizing agent reducing weaker oxidizing agent
agent agent

Cu (s) + ZnSO4 (aq) ---> Zn (s) + CuSO4 (aq)

Fe (s) + CuSO4 (aq) ---> Cu (s) + FeSO4 (aq)

Oxidation occurs when the oxidation number of an atom becomes larger.

Reduction occurs when the oxidation number of an atom becomes smaller.
Oxidizing agents gain electrons while reducing agents lose electrons. Generally,
when metals are fully reduced, they form elemental metal and "plate" the site
where they were reduced.
In the first reaction, the copper ion is able to oxidize the zinc metal. However,
in the second reaction, the zinc ion is not able to oxidize the copper metal. Zinc is
a better reducing agent than copper. Strong reducing agents have weak
conjugate oxidizing agents. Zn2+ is a weak conjugate oxidizing agent compared to
Cu2+. Conversely, strong oxidizing agents have weak conjugate reducing agents.
The second reaction did not occur because the reactants were the weaker
reducing and oxidizing agents. In the third reaction, iron is a better reducing
agent than copper, however iron is not as good as zinc.

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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Discussion:
1- In the zinc displacement reaction with copper sulphate, zinc is replaced
with copper to produce zinc sulphate?

2- What are the types of displacement reactions?

a) A single-replacement reaction: occurs when a single element is replaced by
another element that is part of a compound.

b) A double-replacement reaction: occurs when two elements or ions of two

different compounds are switch or replaced with each other.

3- What is the extraction method used in this experiment?

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 Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________

4- What are the types of solvents? What type of solvent is used in this
experiment?
Solvents can be classified into two types:
1- Polar solvent.
2- Non-polar solvent.

Polar Solvent Non - Polar Solvent

A polar solvent is composed of
molecules that contain bonds between
atoms with different electronegativity.
The dielectric constant of this type of
solvent is high.
Polar solvent has a high dipole moment.
This type of solvents can be further
classified into the protic and aprotic
solvents.
Their static permittivity is high.
A non-polar solvent is composed of
molecules that contain bonds between
atoms with the same or similar
electronegativity.
The dielectric constant of this type of
solvent is low.
Non-polar solvent has a low dipole moment.
This type of solvents cannot be further
classified.
Their static permittivity is low.

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 Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Dept. of Production Engineering and Metallurgical
Branch: Mining and Extractive metallurgy
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Examples: H O and NH
2 3 Example: CH and Br
4 2

References

https://www.vedantu.com/chemistry/displacement-reaction

https://blog.thepipingmart.com/metals/zinc-displacing-copper-in-cuso4-
solutions/

https://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/main_pages/9.11.html

https://study.com/learn/lesson/single-displacement-reaction-overview-
equation-examples.html

https://www.vedantu.com/chemistry/solvent-examples