Question

Ferric oxide reacts with aluminium to produce aluminium oxide and iron. The balanced chemical equation for the given reaction is:
$F{e_2}{O_3} + 2Al \to A{L_2}{O_3} + 2Fe$
Which of the following substances is oxidized in the given reaction?
E. $A{l_2}{O_3}$
F. \[F{e_2}{O_3}\]
G. $Al$
H. $Fe$

Answer 1

Hint: This reaction is a displacement reaction. If you see the reaction carefully one substance is reduced and another is getting oxidized. Substances which lose electrons are oxidized while substances which gain electrons are called reduced.


Step by step answer: Displacement reaction- In this type of reaction more reactive element displaces less reactive element. It is often known as substitution reaction.
$AB + C \to AC + B$

When $A$ is more reactive than $B$ , then this will mostly occur.

As you can see in the above reaction, the displacement reaction occurs as less reactive element is displaced by more reactive element. In the above reaction, the substance which gains electrons is iron ($Fe$) so it is considered as reduced while the substance which loses electrons is aluminium ($Al$) so it is considered as oxidized.

Usually in such reactions, reduced substances act as oxidized agents while oxidized substances act as reduced agents.

Thus, correct answer is option C. i.e. $Al$
Aluminium ($Al$) is oxidized in the above reaction.

Additional Information: In reactivity series, metals which have the highest susceptibility to donate their electrons are listed first and less reactive listed below and most unreactive are listed last. Thus metals which are higher on the list have the ability to displace the metals listed below.

Note: Notice that sometimes during displacement reaction color is changed according to reactant and product involved. In electrochemical series, the higher up metal always displaces the ions of lower down metal.