Question

Why cannot each metal react to its own salt (e.g.$Cu$ and $CuS{{O}_{4}}$)?

Answer 1

The answer here is dependent on the concept of the displacement reaction and also upon the relative strength of the metal which plays a role in the displacement reactions and this fact leads you to the required answer.

Complete answer:
The concepts of several reactions like the displacement reaction, oxidation reaction, substitution reaction and also the reduction in the inorganic chemistry as well as the organic chemistry part is familiar to us.
We shall now see what actually the displacement reaction is and what factors affect this reaction so that we can easily deduce the required answer.
- Displacement reaction is the reaction in which the atoms or a set of atoms will be displaced by the other atom in a molecule.
- For the displacement reaction to take place, there has to be the presence of one more reactive element compared to another.
- In the displacement reaction, both metals and non – metals take part and the other displacement reaction is nothing but the double displacement reaction and is also called as metathesis or the replacement reaction.
- In the given statement with an instance of $Cu$ and $CuS{{O}_{4}}$, since copper and the copper in its salt form has the same reactivity, this displacement reaction does not takes place because the reactive strength of the metal will be the same.
Thus, the displacement reaction does not take place.

Therefore, the correct answer is, each metal cannot react with its own salt because the displacement reaction cannot take place.

Note:
Note that in a displacement reaction, a more reactive element always displaces the less reactive element but a less reactive element cannot displace the most reactive element and thus this point is to be thorough with you.