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Zinc is added to a beaker containing hydrochloric acid, and the beaker gets warm. What type of reaction is this?

1 Answer

Apr 5, 2017

This is a redox reaction...........that also happens to be an exothermic reaction.

Explanation:

Zinc metal is oxidized to zinc ion:

$Z n (s) \to Z n^{2 +} + 2 e^{-}$ $Zn(s) rarr Zn^(2+) + 2e^-$ $(i)$ $(i)$

Hydrogen ion is REDUCED to dihydrogen gas:

$2 H_{3} O^{+} + 2 e^{-} \to H_{2} (g) ↑ ⏐ + H_{2} O (l)$ $2H_3O^(+) + 2e^(-) rarr H_2(g)uarr + H_2O(l)$ $(i i)$ $(ii)$

For the overall reaction, we simply add $(i)$ $(i)$ to $(i i)$ $(ii)$

$Z n (s) + 2 H C l (a q) \to Z n C l_{2} (a q) + H_{2} (g) ↑ ⏐$ $Zn(s) + 2HCl(aq) rarr ZnCl_2(aq) + H_2(g)uarr$

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