Getting Metals from Rocks Flashcards
Name an un reactive metal found in the earth
Gold.
What do ores contain?
Enough metal to make extraction worthwhile.
What is a metal ore?
Is a rock which contains enough metal to make it worthwhile extracting the metal from it.
The ore is what of the metal?
Ore is an OXIDE of the metal.
EG what is the main aluminium ore called?
Bauxite.
Aluminium oxide.
How are most metals extracted from their ores?
Using a chemical reaction.
What can change over time?
Economics.
Profitability.
What happens if the market price of a metal drops alot?
Might not be worth extracting.
What happens if the markets price of a metal increases a lot?
It might be worth extracting more of it.
What happens when technology improves?
It becomes possible to extract more metal from a sample of rock than what was originally possible.
How can a metal be extracted from its ore chemically?
By reduction.
Or electrolysis.
Some ores have to do what before the metal is extracted?
Concentrated.
What does it mean by concentrated?
Getting rid of the unwanted rocky material.
How can electrolysis also be used?
To purify the extracted metal.
How can some metals be extracted?
By reduction with carbon.
What happens when an ore is reduced?
Oxygen is removed.
How can you tell if a metal can be extracted by reduction with carbon?
From its position in the reactivity series.
What happens to the metals higher than carbon in the reactivity series?
They have to be extracted using electrolysis.
Which is expensive.
What happens to the metals below carbon in the reactivity series?
They can be extracted by reduction using carbon.
Give an example of a metal lower than carbon on the reactivity series, how is it reduced?
Iron oxide is reduced in a blast furnace to make iron.
How are metals below carbon extracted by reduction using CARBON?
Because carbon can only take the oxygen away from the metals which are less reactive than carbon itself.
Name the metals extracted using electrolysis.
Potassium. Sodium. Calcium. Magnesium. Aluminium.
Name the metals extracted by reduction using carbon.
Zinc.
Iron.
Tin.
Copper.
Extracting metal isn’t what?
Cheap.
What do you have to pay for when extracting metal?
Special equipment.
Energy.
Labour.
