How are metals extracted from their ores?
Find fourteen metals on the reactivity series, from potassium to platinum, look at their ores and uses, and sort them by how they are extracted.
Core concept
The method of extracting a metal depends on its place in the reactivity series: the most reactive metals are got by electrolysis of their molten ores, metals in the middle by heating their oxides with carbon, and the least reactive are found free
Topic: Metal and non-metal
Most metals are found in the Earth's crust as compounds in rocks called ores: oxides, sulphides and carbonates. Getting the metal out is called extraction (metallurgy). How it is done depends on how reactive the metal is. The most reactive metals, such as potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and aluminium, hold on to their ores so strongly that only electricity can split them: electrolysis of the molten ore. Metals below carbon in the reactivity series, such as zinc, iron, tin, lead and copper, are got by heating their oxides with carbon (coke), which takes the oxygen: A gas in the air that living things need to breathe and that fire needs to burn. All key words away: reduction, as in a blast furnace. The least reactive metals, such as silver, gold and platinum, are found free as the metal itself, and mercury is got just by heating its ore in air. Nepal has iron ore at Phulchoki, magnesite at Kharidhunga, and gold in the sand of some rivers.
What you will learn
- Arrange common metals in the reactivity series.
- Explain how the reactivity of a metal decides its method of extraction.
- Name the ores of common metals.
- Give uses of common metals.
Before you start
- Know that more reactive metals displace less reactive ones.
Materials
- Samples of metals and ores from a school kit, if available
Equipment
- A reactivity series chart
Procedure
- Pick a metal's card and look at its place in the reactivity series and its ore.
- Do this for at least eight metals.
- Sort every metal by how it is extracted.