You observe that when copper is added to a soltion containing gold ions, the copper dissolves and the gold precipitates. Similarly, almost every other metal will displace gold from solutions of gold salts.

Question

a) Do these observations mean that gold ion is a unusally good oxidizing agent or a poor oxidizing agent? Explain.
b) expensive units of sterio and other electronic equiptment use gold-coated parts. Is the choice of gold based strictly on its appearance; that is, do the observations support its selection based on its chemical behavior? Explain.

Answer 1

Gain of e is reduction or oxidizing agent. Au^+ is a good oxidizing agent.

The use of Au in electronic equipment is based partly on the marketing ability of something containing gold. It is a good conductor of electricity although not as good as Ag or Cu. Probably the best reason for using Au (at least gold plating on electronics parts) is that gold will not react readily with oxygen of the air and if it doesn't oxidize there is no corrosion. Since "not oxidizing" is a chemical property that doesn't happen, I suppose this is a chemical property.

Answer 2

Thank you!