Name:________________
Activity Series: Inquiry Lab
**This is a template, therefore you are going to fill in the blanks digitally! All purple items must be completed by you
(and please, keep them purple when you are done).
Problem Statement: How can you use lab observations to predict if a single replacement reaction will happen?
Purpose: I will ______________ by doing __________.
Materials/Equipment:
- well plate(24-well reaction plate)
- small samples of 6 different metals:
--zinc , lead, aluminum, tin, magnesium
- 0.2M copper (II) sulfate solution
- tweezers
- two plastic pipettes
Pre-lab Questions:
1. Based on your knowledge of periodic trends, for each pair of metals identify which of the two you think will be
more reactive:
a. Barium vs.
Strontium
Why? Explain your reasoning: ___________ metal is more reactive because ________.
b. Gallium
vs.
Potassium
Why? Explain your reasoning: ____________ metal is more reactive because ________.
2. Do transition metals always follow the periodic trends?
____, transition metals ________.
3. For this question, refer to the following reaction:
Zn(s) + CuNO3(s)  ______(s) + Zn(NO3)2(aq)
a. What kind of reaction is this, and how did you know?
knew because _________.
This reaction is a ____________ reaction, and I
b. Predict the missing product(s) for this reaction. Zn(s) + CuNO3(s)  ______(s) + Zn(NO3)2(aq)
c. Balance your final reaction: ___Zn(s) + ___CuNO3(s)  ______(s) + ___Zn(NO3)2(aq)
Procedure:
1. Place your well plate onto a clean, white piece of paper.
2. Label your well plate in the order shown below:
Zinc
Lead
Aluminum
Tin
Magnesium
3. For your aluminum metal sample, fold a small piece of foil into a small strip (see teacher example).
4. Place one sample of each metal in the correctly labeled well plate. Try to leave some of the metal up in the air
(see example below).
Metal strip
Well
5. Get ready! Have one student ready to time your reaction (a cell phone is an acceptable timer)
*The next step will require two students working quickly and carefully. The goal is to add the copper (II) sulfate
solution to each metal at about the same time!!
6. Add 2 -3 mL of copper (II) sulfate solution to each well with a metal sample (this is about halfway.) Now start the
timer!
7. Record observations in your journal for 7 minutes.
*Look for signs that a chemical reaction is occurring (gas bubbles being produced, temperature changes,
changes in color, precipitate forming, heat or light produced)
**Pay attention to how quickly each change occurs.
8. Clean-up:
a. Using your tweezers, pick out as many bits of metal as you can, and place into solid waste container.
b. Pour out the remaining liquid from your well plate into the liquid waste container.
c. Rinse your (mostly empty) well plate at your sink, and turn upside down to dry.
Activity Series Chart
Metal
Sample
Zinc
Lead
Aluminum
Tin
Magnesium
Mystery
metal = ___
Observations
My Ranking
(Analysis #1)
Final Class Ranking
(Analysis #2)
Analysis
1. Rank the metals in order of reactivity on your activity series chart. (Most reactive = #1, and so on.)
**Ideas to consider for your ranking: which metals reacted more quickly? How many signs of a chemical reaction
did you observe for each metal? (More than one sign of a chemical reaction probably means the metal was
reacting more.)
2. When your teacher says, discuss your ranking with the class. Write the final class decision in the last column of
your chart.
3. Write out or complete the reaction which occurred in each well plate of the reaction:
a. Zn + CuSO4  ZnSO4 + ________
b. Pb + CuSO4  PbSO4 + ________
c. Al + ________  Al2(SO4)3 + ________
d. Sn + ________  ________+ Cu
e. _____ + CuSO4  MgSO4 + ________
f.
_____ + ________  FeSO4 + Cu
4. Use your activity series of metals to predict whether or not the following reactions will occur, and explain.
a. Al + AgNO3 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
b. Cu + FeSO4 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
c. Zn + PbSO4 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
5. Why would putting zinc into magnesium sulfate NOT produce a reaction? Explain using the activity series.
Placing zinc into magnesium sulfate would not produce a reactions because ___________.
6. Now that you have experience with an activity series, take a look at the activity series on the back of the
periodic table! Use this extended activity series to predict whether the following reactions will occur, and
explain why or why not:
a. K + Mg(NO3)2 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
b. Sn + CoSO4 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
c. Ba + MnCl6 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
d. Au + Pb(CN)4 
This reaction (will OR will not) occur because _____.
Conclusion Part I: Preparing to Write (20 pt)
1. Answer the following questions in preparation for writing your final conclusion. You will use the following ten
vocabulary terms : activity series, metals, copper (II) sulfate solution, reactive, well plate, single replacement
reaction, reactant, product, element, compound
1. Briefly describe what procedure we used in lab. (That is, what did we do?) In this lab, we _______.
2. What kind of reaction is taking place in every one of the solutions we tested, and how do you know?
Every reaction that occurred in this lab was a ______________, and I know this because________.
3. What is the seventh “mystery” metal that you tested in the activity series lab? The mystery metal we tested was
___________.
4. What rank was the “mystery” metal in your activity series and why? In our activity series, we ranked the mystery
metal ( _____) as # _____ because ___________.
5. How can you use lab observations to determine if a single replacement reaction has happened? You can
determine_____________ by ___________.
6. How can you use an activity series to predict if a single replacement reaction will happen? You can
use_____________to predict _______________ by doing __________.
Conclusion Part II: A Paragraph of Awesome (30 pt)
Write an expository paragraph using complete sentences. Include the information from each question you answered in
the “preparing to write” section above.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introductory statement: one sentence explaining the purpose of this lab. (3 pt)
Procedure: briefly summarize what you did in the laboratory. (2 pt)
Paragraph: must be written as such (2 pt)
Spelling and grammar (3 pt)
Complete sentences. (5 pt)
You must correctly use the following ten vocabulary terms (15 pt): activity series, metals, copper (II) sulfate
solution, reactive, well plate, single replacement reaction, reactant, product, element, compound
**BOLD THESE WORDS when they appear in your paragraph!!