What is most likely to oxidize out of the following transition metal:? Platinum, copper, gold, palladium, silver?
i believe its copper but check and see if i am right
To determine which transition metal is most likely to oxidize, we need to consider their standard reduction potentials. The metal with the highest reduction potential is more likely to be oxidized.
One way to find the standard reduction potential is to refer to a table known as the Standard Electrode Potential table or Voltaic Series. This table ranks the elements based on their standard reduction potentials. However, instead of going through the table, we can compare some general trends of transition metals for oxidation:
1. Generally, metals with lower ionization energies are more likely to be oxidized.
2. Metals with higher electronegativities are more likely to be oxidized.
3. Metals with higher atomic numbers are more likely to be oxidized.
Let's consider the given transition metals: platinum, copper, gold, palladium, and silver.
If we compare these metals, we can note the following trends:
- Copper has a lower ionization energy and a lower electronegativity than platinum, gold, and palladium.
- Silver has a lower ionization energy and a lower electronegativity than platinum and gold.
- Palladium has a higher atomic number than platinum but a lower atomic number than gold.
Based on these trends, copper is indeed the most likely to oxidize among the given transition metals.
So, you are correct! Copper is the most likely to oxidize compared to platinum, gold, palladium, and silver.