What is displacement reaction?
There are different types of reaction that do take place in the field of organic chemistry. This is also very important that we should understand theprocess by which the displacement reaction takes place.
What is a Displacement Reaction?
The displacement reaction is the one in which the atom or a set of atoms gets displaced by another atom in a molecule. Say for example, when iron is added to a copper sulphate solution, in the subsequent process, the iron will displace the copper metal.
A + B-C → A-C + B
We can say that that the above chemical reaction will take place when one of the metal will be more reactive then the other one.
These two elements can be either one of these two:
- They can be Halogens where C can be a cation.
- This can be different metals wherein C can be an anion.
There are basically two ways in which the displacement reaction can take place. The process is being explained one by one so as to have a clear understanding.
Single Displacement Reaction
This is the first kind of displacement reaction. The single displacement reaction also known as the single replacement reaction is defined as a kind of oxidation-reduction in which the reaction takes place when an ion or element will move out of a compound. This means that one element is replaced by the other in a compound.
- For example, if we add chlorine is added in its gaseous form to the solution of sodium bromide. In this case m the chlorine acquires the place of bromine. Since chlorine is more reactive than bromine. The reaction that takes place, the chlorine present in the solution will displace bromine from sodium bromide, and the solution will turn blue. The brown colours that we can see in the solution is the bromine that is displaced the chemical reaction below will explain the process that takes place when we place chlorine into the solution.
chlorine + sodium bromide → sodium chloride + bromine
Cl2(aq) + 2NaBr(aq) → 2NaCl(aq) + Br2(aq)
This reaction process can also be explained with the help of another reaction process as well.
- In this experiment, dissolve 0.5 gm. of Silver nitrate in 10 ml of water in a test tube. Next, a copper wire is dipped in it and then it will be kept undisturbed for some time. We will see that there is a silver shining crystal that will be visible on the copper wire that is being kept immerged. We will notice that the solution is becoming bluish as some amount of copper is developed.
The reaction that we see below we will notice that the copper metal displaces silver from Silver Nitrate solution. The reaction is explained as:
Cu(s) + 2AgNo3 (aq) → 2Ag(s) + Cu (NO3)2(aq)
Double Displacement Reaction
The Double displacement reactionswill occur when a part of two ionic compounds will be exchanged and then they will make two new components. The elements and the metals that take part in the chemical reaction will eventually lead to the displacement of the other and will lead to formation of two new compounds.
Double displacement reactions will mostly take place in aqueous solutions wherein the ions precipitate and there will be an exchange of ions that takes place.
Let us take and example, when a solution of barium chloride is mixed with sodium sulphate, we will see that a white precipitate of barium sulphate is formed rapidly. Thesereactionsis said to be ionic in nature. The reactants in this type of chemical reaction will get transformed into ions when dissolved in water .There will be an exchange of ionsthat occur in the solution and that will result in the formation of a product molecule.
The chemical reaction is being explained here where there is the displacement of an atom that takes place and then it will lead to formation of two new components.
What is Reactivity Series?
There are a series of metals that are more reactive then the other one. So these series can be defined as the series of metals, in order of reactivity from highest to lowest. This reactivity of the metals is largest because of their incomplete outer orbitals or due to their electronic configuration. The metals that have with high atomic numbers are more reactive as their electrons are far from the positively charged nucleus and that is the reason that they can be easily removed.
For more concepts like the above, refer:redox reactions from class 11 chemistry – find all the questions & answers