Crimesolver wrote:Is it normal that the zinc I work with doesn't react with HCl? It's the one from the ward science chemistry kit
Also, how other ways would i differentiate between the tin, zinc, and aluminum?
Zinc should react with HCl and it has one of the more obvious reactions, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't. If you can't figure it out, I would look up videos if you're not sure what to expect, but I don't think you have to worry about it not having a clear reaction at competition. As for differentiating between those metals, you may be able to narrow it down by its appearance (color and shine) or how dense it feels, but other than that there's not much else besides the reaction to go off of. Ideally, you'll notice different levels of reactivity between them which should help identify them. If you find any other methods that seem to work well, do whatever is easiest for you and seems to give the best results.