Extraction Of Metals

Question 1

What are properties of metals?

Answer 1

• solid at room temperature with high melting and boiling points
• shiny
• malleable
• good conductors of heat and electricity
• ductile
• metals form ionic compounds and become positive ions

Question 2

Describe the structure in metals:

Answer 2

Metallic bonding

• regular arrangement of positive charged metal ions, surrounded by a sea of delocalised electrons
• the higher the charge the stronger the bond

Question 3

How does the structure of metals mean that they have a high melting and boiling point?

Answer 3

• force of attraction between the positive ions and delocalised electrons is very strong because their electrical charges are opposite
• this strong force is difficult to overcome, so they only melt at a relatively high temperature

Question 4

How does the structure of metals mean that they conduct electricity and heat well?

Answer 4

Metals will conduct electricity when solid due to the delocalised electrons that are able to move and carry the charge.

Question 5

How does the structure of metals mean that they are malleable?

Answer 5

Pure metals have a regular arrangement which allows layers to slide over each other without breaking apart.

Question 6

Define malleable:

Answer 6

Being able to bend without breaking

Question 7

Why’re metals strong?

Answer 7

The attraction between the positive ions and delocalised electrons is very strong so they’re very strong.

Question 8

What are the properties of alloys and why are they different?

Answer 8

Alloys are harder, stronger and less malleable

Because they have atoms of different sizes so the atom arrangement is irregular

Question 9

What’s the reactivity series?

Answer 9

Potassium (potato)
Sodium (soup)
Lithium (lives)
Calcium (calmly)
Magnesium (mearly)
Aluminium (always)
Carbon (could)
Zinc (zoos)
Iron (in)
Tin (tiny)
Lead (leek)
Hydrogen (hear)
Copper (Chester)
Silver (stupid)
Gold (girls)
Platinum (preach)

Question 10

Define ore:

Answer 10

Rocks that contain enough metal to make it worth extracting.

Question 11

Which elements use electrolysis for extracting metals? And what’s electrolysis?

Answer 11

Potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium

-Reactive metals are extracted by using electricity to decompose the metal ore

Question 12

Which elements use carbon for extracting metals? And how is carbon used?

Answer 12

Carbon, zinc, iron, tin, lead, hydrogen, copper

• copper is very cheap and readily available
• more reactive than a number of metals and therefore it’s possible to perform displacement reactions using it

Question 13

What’s the process for extracting the least reactive metals?

Answer 13

Silver, gold, platinum

-least reactive metals in the earths crust they exist in their native state

Question 14

How’s iron extracted from its ore in a blast furnace?

Answer 14

Coke
Iron Ore
Limestone
-to produce a high temperature coke reacts with the hot air(oxygen) to produce carbon dioxide and heat
-then the carbon dioxide reacts with coke to produce carbon monoxide
-then carbon monoxide reacts with the iron ore to produce iron

Question 15

What’s the reducing agent in the reaction between carbon monoxide and iron ore?

Answer 15

Carbon monoxide is the reducing agent

-it’s a good reducing agent because it’s a gas so it completely surrounds the solid particles or iron ore

Question 16

What’s another name for iron ore?

Answer 16

Haematite

Question 17

Define alloy:

Answer 17

A mixture of two metals

Question 18

What’re uses of a mild steel/low carbon steel?

Answer 18

Contains small amounts of other transition elements but mainly carbon up to 0.25%
-the steel is malleable enough to be shaped(car bodies) but quite tough

Question 19

What’re uses of a high carbon steel?

Answer 19

Contains up to 2% carbon

-far less malleable than low carbon steel, used to make strings and strong cables

Question 20

What’re uses of a ultra-high carbon steel?

Answer 20

• contains up to 3.5% carbon

- steels are even harder and are used for tools such as axes, chisels and knife blades

Question 21

What’re uses of a stainless steel?

Answer 21

• quite expensive to make as it contains costly transition elements such as chromium and nickel
• it doesn’t rust, it’s used for cutlery

Question 22

Define painting or greasing as a prevention of rusting:

Answer 22

Cheap but not terribly effective

This prevents water and oxygen from coming into contact with the iron

Question 23

Define sacrificial protection as a prevention of rusting:

Answer 23

-a block of more reactive metal is attached to the iron, since the blocks more reactive it’ll react first leaving the iron unaffected

Question 24

Define galvanising as a prevention of rusting:

Answer 24

• covering iron/steel with a thin layer of zinc

- it’s sacrificial protection using zinc, because zinc is more reactive zinc reacts with the oxygen instead

Question 25

Define alloying as a prevention of rusting:

Answer 25

More expensive but effective, an example being stainless steel

Question 26

What two substances are needed for iron to rust? And what speeds up the reaction?

Answer 26

Water
Oxygen
Speeds up reaction: salt

Question 27

How is aluminium extracted by electrolysis?

Answer 27

Aluminium is dissolved in cryolite to lower the melting point of the bauxite(aluminium oxide)

• at the anode(+) oxide ions lose electrons and the oxygen reacts with the anode so the anode erodes
• at the cathode(-) aluminium ions gain electrons

Question 28

Why is aluminium so useful?

Answer 28

• low density
• very ductile and malleable
• conducts electricity well
• resists corrosion

Question 29

What’s oxidation?

Answer 29

Oxidation is the losing of electrons or the gaining of oxygen.

Question 30

What’s reduction?

Answer 30

Reduction is the gaining of electrons or the lose of oxygen.

Question 31

Why do redox reactions always happen?

Answer 31

Because oxidation and reduction always happen at the same time