Metals and redox

Question 1

Oxidation

Answer 1

Gain of oxygen

Question 2

Reduction

Answer 2

Loss of oxygen

Question 3

How are most metals found in ores are separated?

Answer 3

1) Unreactive metals such as Gold don’t tend to form compounds with other elements
2) This is because they are uncombined
3) The more reactive a metal is, the harder it is to extract from a compound
4) Common metals such as iron and aluminium form metal oxide ores. These can be separated using a reduction reaction.
5) Carbon is used as a reducing agent to separate oxygen from the metal

Question 4

Define ore

Answer 4

A compound which contains enough metal to make it worthwhile extracting-these are finite resources

Question 5

Methods of extraction are linked to the order of reactivity

Answer 5

1) Only metals less reactive than carbon can be extracted using carbon
2) Very reactive metals form very stable ores-this means its very difficult to get the metal out of its compound
3) This means metals more reactive than carbon have to be extracted using electrolysis

Question 6

Which metals in the reactivity series are extracted using electrolysis?

Answer 6

Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium

Question 7

Which metals in the reactivity series are extracted by reduction using carbon

Answer 7

Zinc, Iron, tin, copper, silver

Question 8

Which metals in the reactivity series are found as uncombined elements?

Answer 8

Silver and gold