Hi.I need to know what happens when copper is mixed with silver nitrate. It's for my science homework so I'm going to need to explain what happens to the atoms/molecules/particles in the copper and the silver nitrate. I am aware when you mix it that it makes copper nitrate and silver but I need to know exactly how this happens? And please explain it without any word equations because they really confuse me and are irrelevant to my explanation.
When copper is mixed with silver nitrate, you are correct, it makes copper nitrate and elemental silver. What happens is that the copper is more active than the silver, and so it displaces the silver. In order to do this, the copper has to lose 2 electrons from it's outer shell, and then it becomes a copper ion with a + 2 charge. The nitrate ion itself has a - 1 charge. In order to maintain neutrality, it will take TWO of the nitrate ions to balance out the copper (+2 and two -1). So, the copper nitrate will have one copper ion and two nitrate ions. The silver ion that comes off of the nitrate will be a +1, but it will pick up the electrons that were given away by the copper. It will take 2 silver ions to absorb the 2 electrons donated by the copper. In the end, everyone is happy, and everything remains neutral with respect to charge. And I did all that without any word equations.
