d) Zinc can be extracted from its ore by electrolysis or by heating the ore with carbon - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry Combined Science - Question 5 - 2016 - Paper 1
Question 5
d) Zinc can be extracted from its ore by electrolysis or by heating the ore with carbon.
Give a reason for the method that is used.
(e) Figure 2 gives informati... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:d) Zinc can be extracted from its ore by electrolysis or by heating the ore with carbon - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry Combined Science - Question 5 - 2016 - Paper 1
Step 1
Give a reason for the method that is used.
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Answer
The method used for extracting zinc from its ore is electrolysis, primarily because it is more efficient for ores with high reactivity. When zinc ore is heated with carbon, it draws out zinc but doesn't separate impurities as effectively.
Step 2
Give two reasons why it could be more important to recycle tin than to recycle aluminium.
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Answer
Reason 1: Tin is significantly more expensive than aluminium, with a cost of £12.60 per kilogram compared to aluminium's £1.31. This economic factor makes recycling tin more financially beneficial.
Reason 2: Tin is much rarer in the Earth's crust at just 0.0002%, compared to aluminium at 8%. The scarcity of tin means that recycling it helps conserve limited resources.