AQA Chemistry 1 Limestone

Question	Answer
What is limestone?	mainly composed of the compound calcium carbonate (CaC03). It is quarried and used as a building material
What is the first step of the limestone cycle?	Calcium carbonate thermally decomposes to make calcium oxide and carbon dioxide CaCO3 (s) -> CaO (s) + CO2 (g)
What is the second step of the limestone cycle?	Calcium oxide reacts with water to produce calcium hydroxide CaO (s) + H2O (l) -> Ca(OH)2 (s)
What is the third step of the limestone cycle?	Solution of calcium hydroxide (add a lot more water) reacts with Carbon dioxide to produce calcium carbonate Ca(OH)2 (aq) + CO2 (g) -> CaCO3 (s)
The carbonates of what metals react in a similar way to calcium when thermally decompose	Magnesium, zinc, sodium and copper specifically react to make a metal oxide and CO2, but all other alkali metals do as well. However, they won't all thermally decompose at temperatures reached by a bunsen burner
What is Calcium hydroxide used for?	Calcium hydroxide is alkaline and can therefore be used to neutralise acidic fields
What happens when carbonates react with acids	Carbonates react with acids to produce carbon dioxide, a salt and water. Hence limestone is damaged by acid rain
How do you make cement?	Limestone is heated with clay to make cement
How do you make mortar?	Cement is mixed with sand
How do you make concrete?	Cement is mixed with sand and aggregate (small rocks)

Resource summary

	Created by Natalia Cliff over 7 years ago