C5 Extracting Metals

Question 1

What is an ore

Answer 1

A metal compound with enough metal in it to make extraction and purification economically profitable

Question 2

What economic decisions need to be made before extracting metal from an ore

Answer 2

Cost of extraction and purification
Demand for metal and its sale price
Time needed to extract ore
Environmental impact

Question 3

How is the metal extracted

Answer 3

React with an element higher in the reactivity series eg carbon or hydrogen
Carbon for aluminium and zinc
Hydrogen for tungsten

Question 4

Why is carbon useful for extracting metals

Answer 4

1 Carbon is cheap and easily available in the form of coal
2 between zinc and aluminium in the series
3 it replaces less reactive metals from their oxides
4 carbon removes the oxygen and creates carbon dioxide and the metal element
5 this is a chemical reduction

Question 5

Why is hydrogen useful

Answer 5

1 between lead and copper
2 used to extract tungsten because carbon would produce a brittle compound d called tungsten carbide
3 not as cheap as carbon
4 hydrogen produces very pure tungsten