Would a chemical reaction happen between a piece of copper and a liquid solution containing a compound of aluminum? Why or why not? FIRST BEST ANSWER GETS POINTS!
No. Copper metal will not reduce aluminum ions to aluminum metal. We can observe that copper is below aluminum in the activity series, which indicates that the Cu + Al3+ reaction is nonspontaneous. The other way round will work, sort-of. Aluminum metal will reduce copper ions. But it takes freshly prepared aluminum metal. Aluminum metal passivates, that is, it reacts with oxygen to form an Al2O3 layer on the surface of the metal. The presence of chloride ion will help provide a clean Al surface.
No they are both positively charged. Cu is +1 or +2 and Al is +3.
Please don't ask diffuse questions. If you mean a solution of aluminum ions Al+3, then no: Al3+ + 3e? ? Al(s) -1.66 Cu2+ + 2e? ? Cu(s) +0.340 Cu+ + e? ? Cu(s) +0.520 If you mean a solution of some unspecified Al compound then maybe, but there's no way to know until you specify the compound.
Since Al is more reactive than Cu, no reaction would occur. A reaction would occur only if you had a piece of Al and a solution containing Cu2+ ions. The more active metal replaces the other metal in solution and the less active metal plates out.
Figure out the Eknots using a chart. Cu -- Cu2+ = Enot of ? Al3+ --- Al = Enot of ? It needs to be positive to spontaneously react. I believe from memory that Al -- Al3+ is 1.3volts, so the reverse is negative. Meanwhile Cu is something under .5 volts, so it won't be enough to make the reaction work. This is further understood because aluminum requires a lot of energy to smelt from the oxide (which is the reverse reaction of Al3+ -- Al that you're talking about here) Secondly, do your homework man, it's REALLY obnoxious to add the why or why not and phrase everything exactly as your homework asks. Try to ask a question about the topic so you actually learn. For example, what are reduction potentials in terms of, for example, Cu --- Cu2+
