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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
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. Figure 2 gives information about a... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer: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.
Answer
Zinc is extracted from its ore by heating with carbon due to the high reactivity of zinc. This method is efficient as it is cost-effective and requires less energy compared to electrolysis, which is more suitable for metals that are highly reactive.
Step 2
Give two reasons why it could be more important to recycle tin than to recycle aluminium.
Answer
Reason 1: The amount of tin in the Earth's crust is significantly lower (0.0002%) compared to aluminium (8%). This scarcity makes recycling tin more crucial for sustainable resource management.
Reason 2: The cost of producing tin is much higher (£12.60 per kg) than that of aluminium (£1.31 per kg). This higher cost implies that recycling tin could be more economically advantageous, reducing the overall expense of sourcing new tin.