Reaction of Aluminum and Hydrochloric acid (concentrated)

A quick video showing what happens when Aluminum metal is put in concentrated Hydrochloric acid. In this single replacement reaction the Aluminum replaces the H in Cl. That results in Hydrogen gas (those are the bubbles) forming and aqueous Aluminum chloride.

The unbalanced equation for the reaction is:

Al (s) + HCl (aq) = AlCl3 (aq) + H2 (g)

Note that the reaction is exothermic and does get warm but that the water isn't boiling. What you see are bubbles of Hydrogen gas (H2).

The initial reaction shown at 0:00 happened much faster because the HCl (aq) was hot from earlier reactions I did. in the slower reaction the HCl (aq) was room temperature and took a while to get through the Al2O3 coating on the Al (s). But once through, it took place rapidly.

The white "fog" produced is actually water droplets from the H2 bubbles popping and from the heat of the reaction. While there is H2 gas present, it is not visible to the human eye.