What happens when dilute hydrochloric acid is added to iron fillings? Tick the correct answer.

Options

A. Hydrogen gas and iron chloride are produced.
B. Chlorine gas and iron hydroxide are produced.
C. No reaction takes place.
D. Iron salt and water are produced.

Explanation

To understand what happens when dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl) is added to iron fillings (Fe), we can break down the reaction step by step.

### Step 1: Identify the Reactants
The reactants in this reaction are:
- Dilute Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)
- Iron Fillings (Fe)

### Step 2: Understand the Reaction Type
When a metal reacts with an acid, it generally produces a salt and hydrogen gas. In this case, iron (Fe) is the metal reacting with hydrochloric acid (HCl).

### Step 3: Write the Chemical Equation
The general reaction can be represented as:
\[ \text{Metal} + \text{Acid} \rightarrow \text{Salt} + \text{Hydrogen gas} \]

For this specific reaction:
\[ \text{Fe} + \text{HCl} \rightarrow \text{FeCl}_2 + \text{H}_2 \]

### Step 4: Balance the Chemical Equation
To balance the equation, we need to ensure that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation.

The unbalanced equation is:
\[ \text{Fe} + \text{HCl} \rightarrow \text{FeCl}_2 + \text{H}_2 \]

To balance it, we see that there are 2 chlorine atoms in FeCl2, so we need 2 HCl:
\[ \text{Fe} + 2 \text{HCl} \rightarrow \text{FeCl}_2 + \text{H}_2 \]

### Step 5: Identify the Products
From the balanced equation, we can see that the products of the reaction are:
- Iron(II) chloride (FeCl2) - this is the salt formed.
- Hydrogen gas (H2) - this is the gas released during the reaction.

### Conclusion
When dilute hydrochloric acid is added to iron fillings, the reaction produces iron(II) chloride and hydrogen gas. Therefore, the correct answer is:
**Hydrogen gas and iron chloride are produced.**