Metal Activity Lab

Today in chemistry, we did a metal activity where we placed 8 drops of each of the solutions of Copper (II) nitrate, Magnesium nitrate, Zinc nitrate, and Silver nitrate in a 24 well plate. After this, we placed a small copper wire in each row of A wells, a small magnesium ribbon in each of the B wells, and a few zinc granules in the C wells (we only put the chemicals in to the 3rd well-C.) After, we recorded the following reactions:
( + = reaction)
( - = no reaction)
Cell Letter     Metal              1                           2                         3                           4
                                     Cu2+No3 1-        Mg2+NO3 1-    Zn2+NO3 1-    Ag1+NO3 1-
A                    Cu                 -                           -                         -                             +
B                    Mg                +                           -                        -                             +
C                    Zn                 +                           -                        -                             +

copper (II) nitrate- Cu(NO3)2
Magnesium nitrate- Mg(NO3)2
Zinc Nitrate- Zn(NO3)2
Silver nitrate- AgNO3

In order from least to greatest, the reactant chemicals were Zn(NO3)2, Mg(NO3)2, Cu(NO3)2, and AgNO3.

So plugging this into my daily life, the statue of liberty, for example, is made of copper. Why so? Well copper reacted least to other chemicals going into contact with it. Therefore, this would be a great choice to use for building things that could potentially come in contact with other chemicals (and weathering, of course!).

Now, if we placed a copper penny into a solution of lead (II) nitrate, it would react because lead reacts to copper. So copper will react to lead! They come together and react.