The Reactivity Series of MetalsOxford AQA IGCSE Chemistry: Revision notes

The reactivity series is a list of metals arranged in order of how readily they react — most reactive metal first. It is built up experimentally by observing how vigorously different metals react with water and with dilute acids.

For this course, you need to know the reactivity of: potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron and copper.

• Potassium, sodium, lithium: react vigorously (violently) with cold water, floating, fizzing, moving around and sometimes igniting/producing a lilac (K), yellow-orange (Na) or red (Li) flame; produce a metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas
• Calcium: reacts steadily with cold water, producing calcium hydroxide and hydrogen (bubbles form, some sinks as a white precipitate)
• Magnesium: reacts very slowly with cold water, but reacts more readily with steam
• Zinc and iron: react very slowly (if at all) with cold water; react with steam to produce the metal oxide and hydrogen
• Copper: does not react with water or steam

• Potassium, sodium, lithium: react extremely vigorously (dangerously) with dilute acids
• Calcium, magnesium: react vigorously, fizzing steadily, releasing hydrogen gas
• Zinc, iron: react more slowly, producing hydrogen gas at a moderate rate
• Copper: does not react with dilute acids at all

General word equation: metal + acid → salt + hydrogen

By comparing how vigorously each metal reacts with water and dilute acid, the metals can be placed in this order (most to least reactive):

The more vigorous the reaction (more bubbling, more heat, faster fizzing), the higher up the reactivity series the metal is.