Why does Fe, Zn, Al, Ni, Sn all dissolve in hydrochloric acid

Question

but Cu, Hg, Ag, Au, and Pt doesnt

Answer 1

they do not dissolve, they react with it. Some metal are able to reduce H+ to H2, some are not.

Answer 2

because these metals are amphoteric & ionic.

Answer 3

Pisgahchemist is correct for the most part, but not about the coloration of the copper solution.  The green color is from copper complexes with chloride (CuCl4 2+ is the main one, I think): you can form it with only Cu2+ and HCl without any copper metal or other reducing conditions.

Impure HCl can also dissolve copper sometimes - it frequently contains dissolved chlorine (giving it a yellow/green color) or oxygen, and these can both oxidize copper metal.

Answer 4

These metals (Fe, Zn, Al ...) all react with acids to liberate hydrogen gas because the metals are more active than the hydrogen.

The short and sweet answer is that all of these metals are above hydrogen in the activity series and will therefore become oxidized as hydrogen ions are reduced to hydrogen gas

Copper, silver and gold are all below hydrogen in the activity series and won't reduce hydrogen ions, and therefore won't react with HCl.

Of course the surprising thing is that copper will (under some conditions) react with HCl.

Actually, it's the CuO on the surface of the copper metal that reacts with the acid, producing copper (II) ions in solution.  Copper (II) reacts with copper metal to make yellow copper (I) ions, so the solution which is a mixture of copper (I) and copper (II) ions appears green.  Copper (I) chloride is insoluble but the copper (I) will quickly oxidize to copper (II) and so the copper ions will stay in solution.  So it appears that copper metal is dissolving in HCl, when, in fact, it's the CuO that's reacting.

========= Follow up =========

Yes, there is a yellow copper (II) chloride complex that is yellow and indeed that will produce a green solution when there is a mixture of blue [Cu(H2O)6]2+ and [CuCl4]2-.  The transition from hydrated copper to the tetra-chloro complex occurs with concentrated chloride ions.

Clearly the details of the redox reactions plus the formation of various complexes produces a variety of species in solution and a variety of colors.

By the way,  tetrachlorocopper(II), [CuCl4]2-, has a net negative two charge.