Metals and Equilibria: Reactivity Series

The reactivity series lists metals in order of how reactive they are. At the top of the series are the most reactive metals, at the bottom are the least reactive.
The metals at the top of the reactivity series react more readily with other substances compared to those lower down. For instance, potassium is extremely reactive, while gold is very unreactive.
Metals in the reactivity series can be placed in a reaction with a salt of another metal. If the metal is more reactive than the one in the salt, it will displace the less reactive metal from the salt. This is called a displacement reaction.
The series helps predict outcomes of reactions. For example, knowing that magnesium is more reactive than zinc helps predict that magnesium will react with zinc chloride but not the reverse.
Observations play a pivotal role; a more reactive metal will heat up, fizz or change colour when it reacts, often faster and more noticeably than a less reactive metal.
You should remember the reactivity series: Potassium, Sodium, Lithium, Calcium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Zinc, Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold. A mnemonic could be ‘Please Stop Lily Calling Me A Zebra In Class, She’s Goofy’.
You should be able to write symbol equations for reactions using the reactivity series. For instance: Mg(s) + ZnO(s) -> Zn(s) + MgO(s)
Metal reactivity directly influences methods of metal extraction from ores. Unreactive metals can be found as the native metal, but more reactive ones need to be extracted using electrolysis or displacement using a more reactive metal.
Metals above hydrogen in the reactivity series cannot be extracted by reducing their oxides with carbon. These need to be extracted using electrolysis which is an expensive process.