Transition Metals

-Found in the middle of the Periodic Table 

-Good conductors of heat and electricity, easily bent and hammered, malleable (with the exception of mercury) which is a liquid at room temperature, high melting points 

-Useful for construction materials, heating systems and electrical wiring because heat and electricity can pass through them easily 

-Copper is extracted from copper ores. 

-There are two main methods used to remove copper from the ore;

• One method is to use sulfuric acid to produce copper sulfate solution,before extracting the copper 
• The second method is smelting, where copper ore is heated strongly in air to produce crude copper. Then we use the impure copper as andoes in electrolysis cells to make pure copper

-Processing copper ore uses huge amounts of electricity, and costs a lot of money. If we have to smelt an ore, the heating also requires a lot of energy. 

-Bacteria, fungi and plants are now used to extract copper 

-There is not many copper-rich ores 

-Displace a metal from its compound (displacement reaction), less reactive metal is replaced by the more reactive metal 

e.g iron + copper sulfate -> iron sulfate + copper 

-BIOLEACHING; bacteria is used to extract copper from copper sulfide. Bacteria gets energy from bond between copper and sulfate. Bacteria produces solution (leachate) contains copper that is filtered 

-PHOTOMINING; plants are grown in soil containing copper, the copper is transferred to the plants, plants dont use the copper, leaves burnt, copper found in the ash