Extracting Metals

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Where do Metals come from?

-Metals are found in the Earth's crust 

-Most metals are found combined with other chemical elements, often oxygen 

-This means that the metal must be chemically seperated from its compound before you can use it 

-In some places, there is enough of a metal or metal compound to make it worth extracting, this rock is called a metal ore

-Whether it's worth extracting a metal ore depends on;

  • how easy it is to extract it from its ore 
  • how much metal the ore contains 

-A few metals, such as gold and silver, are so unreactive they are found in the Earth as the metals (elements) themselves.

-These are known to be found in their native state 

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How do we extract metals?

-The way metals are extracted depends its place in the reactivity seires 

-A more reactive metal will displace a less reactive metal from its compounds 

-Carbon will displace less reactive metals from their oxides 

-Carbon is used to extract metals from thier ores commercially 

-When you heat the metal oxide with carbon, the carbon removes the oxygen from the metal oxide to for carbon dioxide;

metal oxide + carbon -> metal + carbon dioxide 

-We call this a reduction reaction 

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