Zinc does react with cold water - it just does so very slowly. Steam is water that is very hot and thus as with any chemical reaction, the heat gives the molecules more energy and so they react faster.
Zinc is unreactive to cold water, but will react with steam to give zinc oxide and hydrogen.
Zinc reacts with steam to form Zinc oxide(yellow when hot and white when cold) and hydrogen. Zn+H2O=ZnO +H2
All metals, if they do react with water at all, react faster in steam than in water. However, the metals that react SLOWLY with cold water are the metals from Group-IIA(Magnesium, Calcium, etc).
Iron and Zinc
Zinc does react with cold water - it just does so very slowly. Steam is water that is very hot and thus as with any chemical reaction, the heat gives the molecules more energy and so they react faster.
Gold does not react with water or steam. i wouldn't totally agree with the above statment. There are 5 metals which don't not just 1...these are: .lead .copper .mercury .silver .gold
The react to form zinc sterate and water
Iron reacts with steam to give iron(III) oxide, which is yellow when hot and white when cold.
Zinc can react with oxygen and water to form zinc oxide and hydrogen gas. The zinc oxide may further react with water to form zinc hydroxide. In the presence of enough oxygen and water, zinc can eventually corrode and form a layer of zinc oxide or zinc hydroxide on its surface.
Zinc is a grey metal that can react with water, although it does so slowly. When zinc reacts with water, it produces zinc hydroxide and hydrogen gas.
zinc carbonate + sulphuric acid = zinc sulphate + water + carbon dioxide
Zinc does not displace hydrogen from cold water, as zinc is lower in the reactivity series than hydrogen. However, if zinc is reacted with an acid, such as hydrochloric acid, it will displace hydrogen gas.