The Reactivity Series

This lesson covers the reactivity series of metals as required by the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification (1SC0). You need to know the order of metals in the reactivity series, predict reactions based on it, and understand how to use experimental observations to determine a metal's position.

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What Is the Reactivity Series?

The reactivity series is a list of metals arranged in order of their reactivity — from the most reactive at the top to the least reactive at the bottom. It also includes carbon and hydrogen as important reference points.

graph TD
    subgraph Reactivity Series
        K["Potassium (K) — Most reactive"]
        Na["Sodium (Na)"]
        Li["Lithium (Li)"]
        Ca["Calcium (Ca)"]
        Mg["Magnesium (Mg)"]
        Al["Aluminium (Al)"]
        C_["(Carbon)"]
        Zn["Zinc (Zn)"]
        Fe["Iron (Fe)"]
        H_["(Hydrogen)"]
        Cu["Copper (Cu)"]
        Ag["Silver (Ag)"]
        Au["Gold (Au)"]
        Pt["Platinum (Pt) — Least reactive"]
    end

    K --> Na --> Li --> Ca --> Mg --> Al --> C_ --> Zn --> Fe --> H_ --> Cu --> Ag --> Au --> Pt