I need to know what reacts with aluminum and what doesn't react with aluminum... please give answers that a eighth grader will understand.
Aluminium is one of the most reactive metals. It is so reactive that almost as soon as it is formed, it reacts with oxygen in the air to form aluminium oxide - which is what you see inside a soda can. Aluminium oxide is extremely unreactive. If you can remove the oxidised layer (usually done with acid) then you can use aluminium in a number of displacement reactions. In a displacement reaction (say, copper carbonate and aluminium) the aluminium will displace the copper (to form aluminium carbonate) and leave the pure copper at the bottom of the flask. Here is a reactivity list - any metal will displace any other metal below iot on the reactivity series. You can see that aluminium is near the top and so will displace a lot of metals. K Na Li Ca Ba Sr Mg Al Mn Zn Cr Fe Cd Co Ni Sn Pb H2 Sb Bi Cu Hg Ag Pt Au
