Chapter 11– Extraction and Uses of Metals

‘O’ Level Chemistry

Chapter 11 – Extraction and Uses of Metals

Metals in Rocks
 The substances that make up rocks are called minerals.
 These minerals can be elements or compounds.
- Elements e.g. gold.
- Compounds e.g. iron present as iron oxides in rocks.
 Some rocks contain useful metal-containing minerals.
 These rocks in which useful metals are obtained are called metal ores.
- E.g. iron can be obtained from a metal ore called haematite.
 Metals can be found in the ores as
- metal oxides, metal sulfides or metal carbonates shown in Table 1.
- Few metals occur as metal chlorides e.g. sodium occurs as NaCl

Metal Name of Ores Chemical name of main mineral in ore Formula

Sodium Rock salt Sodium chloride NaCl
Calcium Limestone Calcium carbonate CaCO3
Magnesium Magnesite Magnesium carbonate MgCO3
Aluminium Bauxite Aluminium oxide Al2O3
Zinc Zinc blende Zinc sulfide ZnS
Haematite Iron (III) oxide Fe2O3
Iron
Magnetite Black iron oxide (iron(II), (III) oxide) Fe3O4
Tin Cassiterite Tin (IV) oxide SnO2
Lead Galena Lead (II) sulfide PbS
CuFeS2
Copper Copper pyrite or chalcopyrite Mixture of copper (II) sulfide and iron sulfide
(CuS + FeS)
Mercury Cinnabar Mercury (II) sulfide HgS
Table 1: Metal, Metal Ores and their Main Minerals

Extraction of Metals
 The process of getting metals from these ores is called extraction of metals.
 The method of extraction depends on the position of the metal in the reactivity series.
 The lower the position of a metal in the reactivity series, the easier it is to extract.

Main steps in the Extraction Process:

1) Remove metal ore from the ground.
2) Separate useful mineral from the unwanted material to get a concentrated mineral.
3) Extract metal from the mineral by a suitable method.

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 Chapter 11– Extraction and Uses of Metals

Potassium
Sodium
Very reactive
Extraction by
Calcium metals
electrolysis
 most difficult
Magnesium to extract
Aluminium
Zinc
Iron
Reactivity Less reactive Extraction by
increases Tin metals heating metal
 easier to oxides with
Lead carbon
extract
Copper
Mercury
Least reactive
Silver Found as
metals
elements in
 easiest to
Gold extract
the ground

Fig. 1: Reactivity series and Extraction methods

 Extraction of the Least Reactive Metals

- These least reactive metals occur as elements in the ground.
- Occurs free in nature and only need to be obtained by physical methods.
- Example: Gold is embedded in rocks deep underground. The rocks are collected and crushed to free the
pieces of gold in them.

 Extraction of Less Reactive Metals

- These metals exist as oxides or sulfides.
- Metal sulfides are heated in air to form oxides.
- The oxides formed are then heated with carbon to give the metal.
- E.g. 2ZnS (s) + 3O2 (g)  2ZnO (s) + 2SO2 (g)
ZnO is reduced to Zn as it
ZnO (s) + C (s)  Zn (s) + CO (g)
loses oxygen.
- Metals which occurred as oxides in the ground can be heated Carbon is the reducing
directly with carbon to extract the metal. agent because it took the
oxygen from ZnO.
- Carbon is used because it is cheap. The type of carbon used is
called coke which is obtained from coal.

 Extraction of Very Reactive Metals

- Bonds in their compounds are very strong  very difficult to extract.
- Most reactive metals are extracted by decomposing their compounds
with electricity. This is called electrolysis. Oxides of these very reactive
metals can be extracted using
- Example: To extract sodium, electric current is passed through molten carbon but only at very high
sodium chloride, which decomposes into its elements. temperatures.
2NaCl (l)  2Na (l) + Cl2 (g)  Very expensive

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 Chapter 11– Extraction and Uses of Metals

Uses of Metals
 The choice of metal for a particular use depends on 3 main factors:
1) Physical properties e.g. melting point, strength, electrical conductivity
2) Chemical properties e.g. corrosion-resistance
3) Cost
 However, some metals can have both desirable and undesirable properties.
- Example: Gold is used on satellites to reflect radiation from the Sun, but it is soft, weak and expensive

Metal Uses Reasons for choice of the metal

 Drink cans  Low density, non-toxic, cheap
Aluminium  Window frames  Resists corrosion, strong, attractive
 Bodies of buses and trains  Lightweight, quite strong, resists corrosion
 Electrical wires  Ductile, good conductor of electricity
Copper
 Water pipes  Strong, malleable, resists corrosion
 Jewellery  Shiny and attractive, malleable
Gold
 Protective coating  Good reflector of heat and light
Titanium  Supersonic aircraft and spacecraft  Light but strong, resists corrosion
Table 2: Some uses of metals and reason for these uses

Extraction of Iron
 Iron is mined from the ground as iron ores. Iron is extracted from the ore haematite which contains
iron (III) oxide, Fe2O3.
 Iron is extracted from the oxide in a blast furnace shown in Fig. 2.
 Temperature at the bottom of the blast furnace can reach over 1600 C where molten iron is
collected.

1. Coke reacts with oxygen from air to form Waste gas

carbon dioxide and a lot of heat.
C (s) + O2 (g)  CO2 (g) + Heat
2. Carbon dioxide reacts with more coke to form
5. Limestone is decomposed by heat.
carbon monoxide.
CaCO3 (s)  CaO (s) + CO2 (g)
CO2 (g) + C (s)  2CO (g)
Coke, 6. Iron ore contains many impurities
3. Carbon monoxide reacts with iron (III) oxide to
Haematite and e.g. silicon dioxide. Calcium oxide
produce molten iron which runs down to the
reacts with silicon dioxide to
bottom. Limestone
produce calcium silicate (called
Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g)  2Fe (l) + 3CO2 (g) are fed in from the slag which is used in making
4. Some iron (III) oxide reacts directly with top roads).
carbon. SiO2 (s) + CaO (s)  CaSiO3 (l)
Fe2O3 (s) + 3C (s)  2Fe (l) + 3CO (g)

Blasts of hot air fed in

Molten Slag floats on top of
molten iron and collected
Molten iron collected
Fig. 2: Schematic diagram of the extraction of iron in the blast furnace

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 Chapter 11– Extraction and Uses of Metals

Note:
 The heat generated in step 1 melts the iron produced and decomposes the limestone.
 Carbon dioxide produced in step 3 and 5 can react with more coke to give carbon monoxide.
 Carbon monoxide produced in step 4 can react with more iron (III) oxide to give molten iron.
 Carbon and carbon monoxide act as the reducing agents to reduce iron (III) oxide into iron.

Uses of Iron
 Iron made from the blast furnace is not very useful.
 It contains impurities which make it very brittle.
 Most iron is converted into steel.
 Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon or small amounts of other elements.
 Steel is strong and tough.
 About 90 % of all metals used consist of steel.
 Impurities in the molten iron are removed before making steel.

Purifying iron to make steel:

1) Remove all impurities in the iron by blowing oxygen gas into the molten iron. This changes all impurities into
oxides.
2) Oxides are combined with lime (calcium oxide) to give slag.
3) Slag is removed.
4) Correct amounts of carbon and other metals are added to the iron to make steel.

 The properties of steel are controlled by the amount of the elements added to the iron.
 There are many different types of steel. There are 3 main types:

Type of steel Contents Properties Uses

Low-carbon steel Car bodies, ships, bridges, railway

Strong and quite
Mild steel lines and steel rods to reinforce
( 0.25% carbon) malleable
concrete

High-carbon steel Harder than mild steel

Hard steel but less malleable (more Tools
( 1% carbon) brittle)
Large amounts of
Hard, shiny and does not Cutlery, medical instruments and
Stainless steel chromium and nickel
rust pipes in chemical industries
are added
Table 3: Three main types of steel and their properties and uses

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 Chapter 11– Extraction and Uses of Metals

Conserve Our Resources of Metals: Recycling of Metals

 Iron is used in the largest amount followed by aluminium and copper.
 There is limited amount of metal ores that can be mined from Earth’s crust.
 If metals continued to be extracted at present rate, there might be serious shortage of metals such
as copper and tin.
 We can use plastics or glass to replace the use of metals for some applications.
 One important way to make metals last longer is to recycle them.
 There are benefits of recycling but there are also some problems encountered.

Benefits Problems
 Conserve metals e.g. valuable metals like  Difficulty of persuading people to deposit used materials
gold and platinum. into recycling containers.
 Recycling cheap metal might be more expensive than
 Saves the cost of extracting new metals extracting new metals from the Earth.
from ores.  Cost of separation of metals from waste can be high.
 Transport costs for collecting scrap metals.
 Reduce land pollution: Prevents piles of  Recycling metals e.g. lead from car batteries can cause more
rusty metals from dumping on waste land. pollution as the smelting process produce a lot of fumes.
Table 4: Benefits and Problems of Recycling

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Chapter 10 & 11 Summary
A metal will displace the
ions of a less reactive metal A metal will remove oxygen from the
Potassium ‘lower’ in the reactivity oxide of a metal ‘lower’ in the
Sodium Very reactive series, from solution. reactivity series.
Increases down a group
metals Extraction
Calcium Decreases across a period
 most by
Magnesium difficult to electrolysis easier for carbon or
Aluminium extract hydrogen to remove
Zinc The lower the oxygen from its oxide
Less reactive Extraction position of
Iron Reactivity
metals by heating metal in the
Reactivity Tin Series reactivity series, the more easily the me
 easier to metal oxides
increases Lead extract with carbon carbonate decompose
Copper Arranged in when heated.
Alloys
Mercury
Least reactive
Silver metals Found as depends Metals
 easiest to elements in on Physical
Gold
extract the ground Properties
to give

by
Extraction Good conductors of heat
Extraction different and electricity
Obtaining iron from hematite
Methods High m.p. and b.p.
C(s) + O2(g)  CO2(g) + Heat
undergoes (exceptions)
CO2(g) + C(s)  CO(g)
High densities (exceptions)
Fe2O3(s) + 3CO(g)  2Fe(l) + 3CO2(g)
Metal ores Ductile
Fe2O3(s) + 3C(s)  2Fe(l) + 3CO(g) Malleable
Blast Extraction of
furnace Shiny (exceptions)
Iron contains
Removing SiO2 from iron
CaCO3(s)  CaO(s) + CO2(g) to make Rusting Minerals in
SiO2(s) + CaO(s)  CaSiO3(l) Rocks
requires
Steel Prevented by
Mild
Both water
slag steel
and air (O2)
Hard Stainless Sacrificial
steel steel Protection
Surface
Protection

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