Activity Series

The activity series is a list of metals and their half-reactions arranged in order of decreasing ease of oxidation or increasing ability to take an electron.

How do you use this series? Very simply, any substance on the right-hand side of the arrows will be strong enough to take an electron from any substance above it on the left-hand side of the arrows.

For example, if a Ag⁺ cation gets close to an Fe atom then the Ag⁺ cation will take an electron away from the Fe atom. In terms of a chemical reaction, the activity series predicts

In contrast, when a Fe²⁺ cation meets a Ag atom, the Fe²⁺ cation will not be strong enough to take electrons away from the Ag atom. That is,

Using the activity series, can you explain why the metals gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are so highly valued and called the precious metals?

Generally, many metals will react with acids to form a salt and hydrogen gas.