Question

What happens when a piece of silver metal is added to copper sulphate solution?
a.) Silver sulphate is formed
b.) Silver displaces copper sulphate
c.) Oxygen gas is evolved
d.) No reaction

Answer 1

Hint: In order to deal with this question we will see the reaction involved in this case. Also we will use the reactivity series which tells us that less reactive elements cannot replace the higher reactive element from any molecule in the single displacement reaction.

Complete step by step answer:
Firstly, let us look at the reactivity series
$
  {\text{1)Potassium(K)}} \\
  {\text{2)Sodium(Na)}} \\
  {\text{3)Calcium(Ca)}} \\
  {\text{4)Magnesium(Mg)}} \\
  {\text{5)Aluminium(Al)}} \\
  {\text{6)Carbon(C)}} \\
  {\text{7)Zinc(Zn)}} \\
  {\text{8)Iron(Fe)}} \\
  {\text{9)Tin(Sn)}} \\
  {\text{10)Lead(Pb)}} \\
  {\text{11)Hydrogen(H)}} \\
  {\text{12)Copper(Cu)}} \\
  {\text{13)Silver(Ag)}} \\
  {\text{14)Gold(Au)}} \\
  {\text{15)Platinum(Pt)}} \\
$
Here no.1 Potassium(K) is the most reactive and no.15 Platinum(Pt) is the least reactive in the series. We know that the higher ranked element in the activity series is more reactive in a single displacement reaction which occurs only when a less reactive element can be replaced by a more reactive element in a compound. Therefore, when silver Ag metal is added to copper sulphate $CuS{O_4}$ solution, no reaction takes place as silver is less reactive than that of copper and cannot displace copper from its solution.
$Ag + CuS{O_4} = {\text{No reaction}}$

Hence, when a piece of silver metal is added to copper sulphate solution there will be no reaction.
So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note: A single-displacement reaction is also known as a single-replacement reaction, is a type of chemical reaction where a compound reacts with a metal or another compound and forms a new compound product. In a simplified way it can be said A reacts with BC to give AC and B as products. We will use a "Action Sequence" or “Reactivity table “ to decide whether single or double substitution would occur.