[bowlbase]

Would like if someone could help me understand the concept of reducing agents.

We did a lab last week where we put a metal in a solution. For example we put Zinc in a silver nitrate solution and the zinc had a pretty strong reaction compared to the rest of the metals. So am thinking that the Zinc was the reducing agent just because of the way the lab was done. However, I do not understand why it would have been zinc and not silver. Furthermore, I do not understand the actual process of the reaction. It turned black, had bubbles forming and eventually had a lot of white "hairs" attached to it. I figure the bubbles were just O_2 being released from the nitrate but beyond that I am clueless.

Thanks for the insights.

[Arkcon]

You question is a little bit all over the place.  Lets start the dialog with something basic -- can you define reducing agent, from your textbook or class notes?