Reactivity series- Play your cards right, kids turn over a picture of a metal, then shout higher or lower for the next one.(works well for pH as well) A nice reaction to show displacement of metals, also very useful in extracting metals: Mix equal portions of Copper Oxide and Zinc powder. Pour on to an old heat proof mat (my heat proof mat didn't look happy after this). Using a bunsen, blast one end of the line of powder untime it 'ignites'.
Reactivity series- Play your cards right, kids turn over a picture of a metal, then shout higher or lower for the next one.(works well for pH as well)
A nice reaction to show displacement of metals, also very useful in extracting metals: Mix equal portions of Copper Oxide and Zinc powder. Pour on to an old heat proof mat (my heat proof mat didn't look happy after this). Using a bunsen, blast one end of the line of powder untime it 'ignites'. The result is a slow burning perpetuating reaction, similar to a line of gunpowder but much slower. A line of molten copper is left behind with bright yellow crystals that turn white with exposure to air (zinc oxide??). Looks pretty spectacular, like a scaled down thermite! make sure you do it in a fume cupboard though!
I used small sponge footballs with different amounts of velcro on to represent displacement reactions. The more reactive the metal the more velcro was on it. The cations then all had large amounts of the opposite velcro on them. Had the class walking around trying to win balls off each other and make up a reactivity series from that. This has worked succefully as a starter with top set classes and a main actiivity with bottom set kids.