Getting Metals From Rocks #1

Question	Answer
What is a metal ore?	A rock which contains enough metal to make it worthwhile extracting the metal from it
What is the usual type of ore?	An Oxide
How do most metals need to be extracted from their ore?	Using a chemical reaction
What 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
What two ways can a metal be extracted from its ore?	Reduction or electrolysis
What is electrolysis?	Splitting a compound using electricity
What do some ores have to be before the metal is extracted?	Concentrated, which means the unwanted rocky part is disposed of
What can electrolysis also be used for?	Purifying the extracted metal
What element is used for reduction?	Carbon
What happens when an ore is reduced?	The oxygen is removed, e.g Iron Oxide + Carbon = Iron + Carbon Dioxide
What 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

Resource summary

	Created by Adam Collinge over 10 years ago