Smart Facts – metal extraction
Share these fascinating facts about metal extraction with your KS3 chemistry students.
- Most metals are not found pure in the ground but instead in the form of compounds in metal ores.
- Metals are only extracted from ores if they contain enough metal to make it worth the costs involved.
- Gold and platinum are unreactive metals which are found pure in the ground.
- Metals and ores are removed from the ground by mining.
- If a metal is below carbon in the reactivity series it can be extracted using carbon. The carbon will displace the less reactive metal from its compound.
- Iron is extracted from iron oxide in the blast furnace. Temperatures as high as 2,000°C are used.
- Steel is an alloy made by mixing iron with small amounts of carbon and sometimes other metals.
- Copper ores are becoming rarer and rarer. Scientists are working on methods using plants and bacteria to extract metals from low-grade ores which have less than 1% copper.
- Metal extraction has negative environmental impacts. Half of the world’s top ten worst pollution problems are mining related.
- Recycling metals is an important process if we are to achieve sustainable development. It helps conserve both resources and energy.
More on metal extraction..
If you are exploring metal extraction with your KS3 students this term, check out these useful resources:
Scientist biography – Constance Tipper
Oops! When science goes wrong – The Blast Furnace
Homework activity – Extracting metal from your cereal