Answer to Question #306679 in Organic Chemistry for Eric Choi

Question

If sulfuric acid, acetic acid, and nitric acid reacts with iron, are they a single displacement reaction? If not what kind reaction are they and please be specific.

Answer 1

Many, but not all, metals react with acids. Hydrogen gas forms as the metals react with the acid to form salts. This class experiment is often used in the introductory study of acids to establish that this behaviour is a characteristic property

The experiment is done first on a smaller scale using test tubes (lesson 1 below), with no attempt to recover the salts formed. This establishes that hydrogen production is a characteristic property of the reaction of metals and acids. It can then be done on a larger scale , and the salts formed can be recovered by crystallisation.