Reactions of the halogens

At the end of this activity, students should be able to:
– account for the high reactivity of the halogens
– describe the trend in the reactivity with increasing atomic number of the halogens within the group
– explain why chlorine is more reactive than bromine
– write equations for reactions of halogens with metals and hydrogen
– account for the acidic character of hydrogen halides
– mention the most important properties and applications of hydrochloric acid
– predict whether a molecule of a given halogen will react with a simple ion of another halogen.