Let aluminum react with hydrochloric acid
A simple chemical experiment is the reaction of aluminum with hydrochloric acid. The easily available starting materials and the low level of difficulty make this experiment also suitable for schoolchildren. Try it out - it's easy.
What you need:
- Test tube
- hydrochloric acid
- Aluminum foil
- Protective gown
- gloves
- safety goggles
- Hair band
Experimental instructions for the production of aluminum chloride
- If necessary, tie your hair and put on your protective clothing. Since hydrochloric acid is corrosive, the use of protective goggles should not be dispensed with under any circumstances. A smock also protects not only clothing but, like gloves, also the skin from chemical burns.
- Fill a test tube approx. 1/10 with concentrated hydrochloric acid. As long as no further investigations are to be carried out, the hydrochloric acid does not have to be completely pure.
- Place this test tube with a test tube stand in a fume cupboard in the chemistry laboratory, as hydrogen is released during the reaction.
- Now tear or cut off a small piece of aluminum foil and roll or crumple it up so that it fits easily into the test tube.
- Now throw the aluminum into the test tube so that it ends up in the hydrochloric acid. Then close the fume cupboard and observe the further course of the experiment.
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Explanation of the reaction of the metal with hydrochloric acid
- Aluminum is elementary and therefore has no other binding partner. This changes when it reacts with hydrochloric acid.
- Aluminum forms a bond with the chloride of hydrochloric acid and thereby displaces the hydrogen atoms, which in turn form pairs, so that elemental hydrogen gas is created.
- In simplified terms, the reaction equation can be described as follows:
6 HCl + 2 Al → 2 AlCl3 + 3 H.2 . - However, since concentrated hydrochloric acid not only contains HCl, which is otherwise gaseous as a pure substance, but also water, a hexahydrate is formed during the reaction. This means that an AlCl3Molecule also has six water molecules bound to it. So the chemical reaction equation is correct
6 HCl + 2 Al + 12 H2O → 2 [AlCl3* 6 H.2O] + 3H2
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