[cardrap]

 what happens to chromium dipped in silver nitrate, and if a reaction aoccurs how do i write a net equation?

[Donaldson Tan]

Since Chronium is more reactive than Silver, a displacement reaction will occur.

[chemicalLindsay]

  (Im just having a go ,correct me if im wrong).By seeing that it is a displacement reaction as the silver ions in the silver nitrate solution would be displaced by the chromium metal.This happens because the chromium metal is more reactive ,thus easilier oxidised and when in contact with silver ions it will oxidise to form chromium ions and silver.Hence the equation would be:chromium+silver nitrate-> chromium nitrate and the unbalanced symol equation would be:Cr+AgNO3 -> Ag+CrNO3
 From this you should be able to work out the ionic equation.

[hmx9123]

Good job!

[AWK]

Even unbalanced equation should have proper folmulas for componds - chromium nitrate should be written as Cr(NO₃)₃

[chemicalLindsay]

sorry I didnt know the proper formulas so I tried my best to balance the charges.

[hmx9123]

I read your post rather quickly, and I missed it the first time.  The general idea is correct, though.  In order to know the proper formula, you have to know the oxidation state of chromium anyway.  Chromium comes in many oxidation states, most commonly II, III and VI.  Without proper references, you would not have known that.  What's your background in chemistry?  I'm curious.  Might be able to recommend some reading or texts for you.

[chemicalLindsay]

Im only in year 8 and what we do in chemistry is pretty basic.This year in our topic we did the evermost basic and boring chemistry.I mean for acids and bases we didn't even go over the areas that an acid was a proton donor and that a base was a proton acceptor.So for the past year or two Ive just being reading books of chemistry and physics that interested me , not reading them fully but just reading the bits that I understood and that interested me.The books that I have read in this way are Excel pocket HSC (high school certificate yr12)chemistry of which I read a bit of stuff on sacrificial anodes,galvanic cells,electrolytic cells and electrolysis.radioactivity and nuclear chemistry (I basically read the whole section that was on this),different types of reactions (eg displacement) and I also read a bit on acids and bases and a little bit on ions (only basically).Ive also read bits of prelimenary chemistry (yr11) and have read about all the chemical bonds that I know and have found and right know I am reading the visual dictionary of chemistry.Ive also had looks at my dads old metalurgy (he used to be a metalurgest,not that I can tell cause when I allways ask him questions he always seems dumbstruck and doesent know the answer).At home I have my own outdoor mini lab that has no chemicals stored their at the moment (all my chemicals are inside for safety reasons) and out their I generally conduct my own experiments such as test my hypothesises on things (eg that zinc will displace cobalt chloride solution).Lately (yesterday and today) I have been playin around with galvanic cells with salt water as my electrolyte and I have been recording the amperages produced with certain molar concentrations of salt in the water using a alligator clip as one electrode and a zinc strip as another.Thanks and sorry for probably boring you (their should be an expeiment photo attached)

[hmx9123]

Actually, that's quite impressive for an 8th grader; it seems pretty well-founded scientifically, too--you're quantitatively measuring potential across a cell.  When I was in 8th grade, I probably would have just been dumping different chemicals together to see what happened if I had tried to experiment (fortunately I didn't get involved in chemistry until a few years later).

My only concerns are that if you're doing this on your own that you're safe.  Make sure you always wear safety glasses or goggles.  I'm guessing your parents know what's going on, but if they don't, make sure that they know and that someone else is around when you're doing experiments.  In the case that something goes wrong, you need to be able to go to someone for help if you're hurt.

Other than that, it seems that the chemicals that you're dealing with at the moment are benign enough.  I would suggest going to a local university library and check out a general chemistry book.  You sound like you'd be interested in the electromotive series, which describes quantitatively how reactive materials are and gives you potentials for different reactions.  It sounds like you need a good general chem book, though.

[chemicalLindsay]

Thanks.i do tell my parents about my experiments but It's kinda like my crazy ideas as they never really listen and aren't interested nor do they often understand (thats when I tell them about my ideas,They never become anything and the reason why my parents don't understand is because most of the ideas are just plain stupid).However I never use any really dangerous chemicals as I don't have many.I have about five different chemicals from a chemistry kit and  they come from a chemistry kit that involves micro amounts of chemicals (meaning I have really limited supplies and thay arent very concentrated or dangerous)In the electrolytic and galvanic cells that I experiment with I generally use just water and salt (sodium chloride) although I am thinking of using citric acid (you can buy that in aus at the supermarkets in the spice section) in the galvanic cell and recoding the outputs.