Question

What happens when a piece of silver metal is added to copper sulfate solution?

Answer 1

So as to deal with this question we’ll see the reaction involved during this case. Also we will use the reactivity series which tells us that less reactive elements can’t replace the higher reactive element from any molecule in the single displacement reaction.

Complete answer:
Firstly, let us look at the reactivity series;
Potassium (K)
Sodium (Na)
Calcium (Ca)
Magnesium (Mg)
Aluminium (Al)
Carbon (C)
Zinc (Zn)
Iron (Fe)
Tin (Sn)
Hydrogen (H)
Lead (Pb)
Copper (Cu)
Silver (Ag)
Gold (Au)
Platinum (Pt)
Here no.1 potassium (K) is the most reactive and no.15 Platinum (Pt) is the less 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 during a compound.
Therefore, when silver Ag metal is added to copper sulfate $CuS{O_4}$solution, no reaction takes place as silver is a smaller reactive than that of copper and can’t displace copper from its solution.
$Ag + CuS{O_4} \to No Reaction$
Therefore, the solution to this present question is No reaction.

Note:
We have to know that a single-displacement reaction is additionally referred to as a single-replacement reaction, may be a sort 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.