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​C4 E) Metals Reacting with Water

Most metals react with water, but the rate of reaction with water varies depending on how reactive the metal is. The standard reaction of a metal with water is:

Metal hydroxides are bases. Some metal hydroxides dissolved in water and are therefore alkalis. Metal hydroxides have a positive metal ion and a negative hydroxide ion. A negative hydroxide ion has a charge of 1- (OH^-). The charge for the positive metal ion depends on the metal that is involved.

 
Metals that are in group 1 of the periodic table react very aggressively with water. Examples of these group 1 metals are lithium, sodium, potassium etc. Group 1 metals react so aggressively with water because they want to lose the single electron in their outermost electron shell. We can conduct an experiment of group 1 metals reacting with water by having a container filled with water and dropping the group 1 metals into it. The group 1 metals will react with the water to produce a metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas. As we go down the group 1 column, the metals become more reactive, which means that they will react more aggressively/ faster and will produce hydrogen quicker (the reasons why group 1 metals/ alkali metals become more reactive as we go down the column are explained in the group 1 section; click here to be taken to that section).
 
We can test for the presence of hydrogen gas by collecting some of the gas in a test tube. We then hold a lit splint above the test tube that we collected the gas in; if we hear a squeaky pop, it tells us that the gas is hydrogen (we could also hold our lit splint above where the hydrogen gas was produced rather than collecting it in a test tube).