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Give reasons why copper is used to make hot water tanks and not steel (an alloy of iron).
Solution
Copper does not react with cold water, hot water, or steam. However, iron reacts with steam. If the hot water tanks are made of steel (an alloy of iron), then iron would react vigorously with the steam formed from hot water.
$\underset{\text{ Iron }}{\mathop{3Fe}}\,\,+\underset{\text{ Steam }}{\mathop{\,4{{H}_{2}}O}}\,\,\to \underset{\text{ Iron(II, III) oxide }}{\mathop{\,F{{e}_{3}}{{O}_{4}}}}\,\,+\underset{\text{ Hydrogen }}{\mathop{\,4{{H}_{2}}}}\,$
That is why copper is used to make hot water tanks, and not steel.
Similar Questions
Metallic oxides of zinc, magnesium and copper were heated with the following metals.
| Metal | Zinc | Magnesium | Copper |
| Zinc oxide | – | – | – |
| Magnesium oxide | – | – | – |
| Copper oxide | – | – | – |
In which cases will you find displacement reactions taking place ?
