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Two students, A and B, want to make some solid zinc sulfate - OCR Gateway - GCSE Chemistry - Question 20 - 2021 - Paper 1
Question 20
Two students, A and B, want to make some solid zinc sulfate. They make some predictions. Student A says You can react sulfuric acid with zinc metal or zinc carbon... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Two students, A and B, want to make some solid zinc sulfate - OCR Gateway - GCSE Chemistry - Question 20 - 2021 - Paper 1
Step 1
Comment on how correct both predictions are.
Answer
Student A's prediction is partially correct. Zinc can indeed react with sulfuric acid to form zinc sulfate and hydrogen gas. The reaction is represented as:
However, the use of zinc carbonate with sulfuric acid does not produce zinc sulfate directly but rather leads to the formation of carbon dioxide as the product:
Therefore, while A's first reaction is correct, the second part of their prediction is inaccurate in context.
Student B's prediction is also partially correct. The reactions they describe are valid: hydrochloric acid does react with zinc metal and carbonate to form zinc chloride and the respective gases. The relevant equations are:
For zinc metal:
For zinc carbonate:
Student B's first reaction for zinc metal is correct; however, just like Student A, the reaction with carbonate leads to carbon dioxide, which they rightly state, but the end product of reaction would be zinc chloride, not zinc sulfate.