Question

You are provided with two containers made up of copper and aluminium. You are also provided with solutions of dilute $HCl$, dilute $HN{{O}_{3}}$, $ZnC{{l}_{2}}$, and ${{H}_{2}}O$ respectively. In which of the above containers these solutions can be kept respectively?
A. Copper, aluminium, copper, copper
B. Copper, aluminium, aluminium, copper
C. aluminium, copper, copper, aluminium
D. aluminium, aluminium, copper, copper

Answer 1

Hint: The chemicals are stored in a container which are non-reactive to the specific chemicals. The reaction which occurs in some chemicals depend on the reactivity of the metal from which the container is made up of, and the metal which is contained by the chemical for the storage purpose.

Complete step by step answer:
In order to understand which solution could be kept in which container, we should first discuss the reactivity of these chemicals individually with the copper and aluminium.
So we will first consider the reactivity of copper with each of the solutions. At first dilute hydrochloric acid. Copper doesn’t react with dilute $HCl$, so we can store dilute hydrochloric acid in a copper container.
Next is dilute nitric acid, and we know that copper could react with dilute nitric acid in order to form copper nitrate along with some side products. The reaction can be chemically expressed as,
$3Cu(s)+8HN{{O}_{3}}(aq.)\to 3Cu{{(N{{O}_{3}})}_{2}}(aq)+2NO(g)+4{{H}_{2}}O(l)$
Now, we will consider the next chemical which is zinc chloride, so we can store it in copper vessels because they would not react with each other, as copper is less reactive as compared to the zinc so it wouldn’t be able to displace it from zinc chloride solution.
And finally, water, and we know that we can store water in copper vessels as no reaction would take place between water and copper.
Now, we will look at the reactivity of aluminium with each of these chemicals. So, at first, dilute hydrochloric acid can react with aluminium in order to form aluminium trichloride along with hydrogen gas. The reaction could be represented by the following equation,
$2Al+6HCl\to 2AlC{{l}_{3}}+3{{H}_{2}}$
So we cannot store it in an aluminium container.
Now for the dilute nitric acid, aluminium would form a thin layer of aluminium oxide which will protect the aluminium vessel from further reaction. So it could be stored in an aluminium vessel.
Now, the zinc chloride could react with aluminium as aluminium is more reactive than zinc so it could displace zinc from its chloride in order to form aluminium chloride. The reaction can be chemically represented as,
$Al+ZnC{{l}_{2}}\to 2AlC{{l}_{3}}+3Zn$
So, now if we move to the last chemical that is water, we know that the aluminium does not react with water, so it could be stored in aluminium vessel, However it could react with hot water in order to form aluminium oxide,
$2Al+3{{H}_{2}}O\to A{{l}_{2}}{{O}_{3}}+3{{H}_{2}}O$
Hence, we can store dilute $HCl$, $ZnC{{l}_{2}}$, and ${{H}_{2}}O$ in copper container and dilute dilute $HN{{O}_{3}}$ can be stored in an aluminium container .

So, the correct answer is Option A .

Note: Hydrochloric acid could be stored in copper vessels and not aluminium containers as it could react with aluminium, and it doesn’t react with copper.
Similarly, nitric acid can be stored in an aluminium container as it forms an oxide layer of aluminium which protects the aluminium from further reaction. In case of zinc chloride, it could be stored in a copper container and not an aluminium container as it could react with aluminium in order to form aluminium chloride. And water can be stored in copper vessels as it is unreactive.