SECTION 8-3 ACTIVITY SERIES THE ABILITY OF AN ELEMENT TO REACT IS REFERRED TO AS THE ACTIVITY OF THAT ELEMENT. THE MORE READILY AN ELEMENT REACTS, THE GREATER IT’S ACTIVITY. ACTIVITY SERIES IS A LIST OF ELEMENTS ORGANIZED ACCORDING TO THE EASE WITH WHICH THEY UNDERGO CERTAIN CHEMICAL CHANGES

THE MOST REACTIVE ELEMENT IS PLACED ON TOP OF THE LIST AND CAN REPLACE ANY ELEMENT BELOW IT. F, FLOURINE - IS THE MOST REACTIVE HALOGEN(GROUP 17) AND CAN REPLACE ANY OTHER HALOGEN IN A SINGLE-REPLACEMENT REACTION EVIDENCE FOR THE ACTIVITY SERIES IS BASED ON EXPERIMENTS OF SINGLE-REPLACEMENT REACTIONS.

TABLE 8-3 GENERALIZATIONS 1. AN ELEMENT WILL REPLACE FROM A COMPOUND IN AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION ANYTHING BELOW IT. 2. a. OXIDES OF METALS BELOW COPPER DECOMPOSE WITH HEAT ALONE. b. OXIDES BELOW CHROMIUM YIELD METALS WHEN HEATED WITH HYDROGEN

TABLE 8-3 3. ELEMENTS NEAR THE TOP OF THE SERIES ARE NEVER FOUND FREE IN NATURE. 4. ELEMENTS FOUND NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE SERIES ARE OFTEN FOUND FREE IN NATURE