Flashcards
Getting Metals From Rocks #1
Flashcards do conjunto (11)
- 1What is a metal ore?A rock which contains enough metal to make it worthwhile extracting the metal from it
- 2What is the usual type of ore?An Oxide
- 3How do most metals need to be extracted from their ore?Using a chemical reaction
- 4What three things can effect the economics of metal extraction?1) If the market price of a metal drops
2) If the market price increases
3) As technology improves, it becomes easier to extract more metal from a sample rock - 5What two ways can a metal be extracted from its ore?Reduction or electrolysis
- 6What is electrolysis?Splitting a compound using electricity
- 7What do some ores have to be before the metal is extracted?Concentrated, which means the unwanted rocky part is disposed of
- 8What can electrolysis also be used for?Purifying the extracted metal
- 9What element is used for reduction?Carbon
- 10What happens when an ore is reduced?The oxygen is removed, e.g Iron Oxide + Carbon = Iron + Carbon Dioxide
- 11What determines whether a metal can be extracted by reduction?Its placement in the re activity series; metals above carbon in the series have to be extracted using electrolysis but metals below can be extracted using reduction