Chemistry activity series lab

Question

Post-1982 pennies have a zinc core with a thin copper outer shell. Using your activity series predict what would happen if a post-1982 penny were put into a solution of hydrochloric acid?

Answer 1

If the penny with a copper coating were placed in HCl(aq), nothing much would happen because copper is much less reactive than Zn and will not react with acid or water.

Cu + HCl ==> no reaction

Zn + 2HCl ==> ZnCl₂ + H₂(g)