[pcm81]

Hi. It's been about 15 years since my last college chemistry class and i can't remember the name of the property i am looking for to find it online. As I recall there is more to acids reacting with metals than acid disassociation constant characterizing acid strength... After all a strong sulphuric acid cant dissolve gold, but HCL + Nitric mixture can. What is the name of the propetry i am looking for that will tell me which acids can and cannot dissolve which metals. I think it has something to do with nobilty of metals too...



Thanks ahead.

[Borek]

I don't think there is a single term covering what you are looking for. Some metals need strong oxidizers to dissolve. H⁺ is an oxidizer, but not strong enough. In general it is about redox potentials, but as a rule of thumb you can use reactivity series.

Hopefully some of these keywords will ring a bell for you.

[pcm81]

I don't think there is a single term covering what you are looking for. Some metals need strong oxidizers to dissolve. H⁺ is an oxidizer, but not strong enough. In general it is about redox potentials, but as a rule of thumb you can use reactivity series.

Hopefully some of these keywords will ring a bell for you.

If my memory serves me right it has something to do with oxidation reduction potential like in this chart:
http://eesemi.com/ox_potential.htm

Which is why HF pretty much dissolves everything since F has such much high potential.
Just was not sure if there is a table for acids vs metals allowing me not to think...

[Borek]

If my memory serves me right it has something to do with oxidation reduction potential like in this chart:

Yes.

Which is why HF pretty much dissolves everything since F has such much high potential.

No. It is elemental fluorine (F₂) that is a strong oxidizer, in HF fluorine is in a form of fluoride anion (F^-), which is already reduced and not that reactive. Yes, it still has some interesting properties.

[Enthalpy]

The corrosion resistance of metals does not depend simply on a redox potential. It depends much on the quality of the surface oxide.

For instance Ta resists corrosion very well but isn't a noble metal.

Or Cr makes steel stainless despite its redox potentials are similar to Fe.