C1 Metals and their uses

Metals and their uses

Extracting Metals

• Metals are usually found in the Earth's crust. They are often combined chemically with other elements such as oxygen.
• An ore contains enough metal to make it worth extracting the metal.
• The method we use to extract a metal depends on its reactivity.
• Unreactive metals are found in the Earth as the metal.
• The oxide of metals less reactive than carbon can be reduced using carbon.

Iron and steels

• Iron oxide is reduced in a blast furnace to make iron.
• Iron from the blast furnace is too brittle for many uses.
• Most iron is converted into alloys called steels.
• Steels contain carefully controlled quantities of carbon and…