Melissa Kok

Steelworks Port Kembla

1. Metals have been extracted and used for many thousands of years
Describe the use of common alloys including steel, brass and solder and explain how these relate to their properties Alloy: A mixture containing a metal and one or more elements. The other elements are usually metals but may also be non-metals. Alloys are formed by melting the substances together, mixing and allowing them to cool.

Alloy Stainless Steel

Tungsten Steel Brass Solder

Properties Hard, shiny, resists corrosion and abrasion, soft malleable, lustrous Hard even when heated. Polishes well, hard, resists corrosion, easily worked Relatively love MP, adheres well to other metals when molten. Strong, hard, resists wear and corrosion, casts easily.

Uses Cutlery, sinks, building.

Tools for cutting and grinding: blades, drill bits. Screws, door knobs, musical instruments. Joining wires and pipes.

Bronze

Statues, church bells, ship propellers.

5. The relative abundance and ease of extraction of metals influence their value and breadth of use in the community
Define the terms mineral and ore with reference to economic and non-economic deposits of natural resources Minerals: Naturally occurring inorganic substances, usually compounds with a particular chemical composition and a definite crystal structure. E.g. haematite, magnetite. Ores: Naturally occurring deposits that are mixtures of minerals (plus contaminants) from which a metal can be economically extracted. E.g. iron ore, bauxite.

Melissa Kok Describe the relationship between the commercial prices of common metals, their actual abundance and relative costs of production The commercial price of metals depends on a few factors including their relative abundances and the cost of production. The greater the abundance of a metal the lower the commercial price of the metal would be. The cost of production of the metals depends on where it is located and the amount of energy input. If the location of the ore is located in a high population zone, the mining procedure would be difficult because there would be damages done to the environment and increase the cost of production. If an ore is located in remote places, then the cost of production would increase because it would cost money to transport the raw materials to refinery plants. The more reactive the metal is, then the higher the energy input is needed for extraction and it would increase the cost of extraction. Iron, especially in the form of steel, is the dominant metal used in all modern societies and a key factor in their industrial development. It is the fourth most abundant element in the earths crust and, after aluminium, the second most abundant metal.

Explain why ores are non-renewable resources Ores are deposits of naturally occurring minerals which were formed during the evolution of the universe and the planets; therefore they are non renewable resources.

Recount the steps taken to recycle aluminium 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Collect the used products from homes, shopping centres and factories. Transport the collected material to a central processing plant. Separate the required metal from the impurities. Re-melt the metal into stock ingots. The ingots are sent to mills where they are rolled out. This gives the aluminium greater flexibility and strength.

This is then made into aluminium products such as cans, chocolate wrapping and ready meal packaging.

Melissa Kok Discuss the importance of predicting yield in the identification, mining and extraction of commercial ore deposits The yield of a metal from a particular mineral or ore is the mass of metal that can be obtained from a particular mass of the mineral or ore, and is often expressed as a percentage. It is possible to use formulae to calculate/predict yields of metals from particular minerals (pure compounds), for ores we have to measure them experimentally. This is because ores are mixtures of the required mineral and unwanted material, and, being mixtures, they have variable composition. Measurement of the yield from a particular ore body is extremely important in the mining and minerals industry because it determines whether extraction of the metal from that ore is profitable or not.

Justify the increased recycling of metals in our society and across the world

Many of the easily accessible sources of metal ores have now been used up - which means it costs more to extract what remains. Energy costs are now higher than they were previously - which means that refining the metal and transporting it also costs more. This means that recycling metal rather than extracting new metal is financially viable.

Analyse information to compare the cost and energy expenditure involved in the extraction of aluminium from its ore and the recycling of aluminium Recycling of aluminium is very cost effective and energy efficient compared to extracting aluminium from ores. Large energy is needed to separate aluminium from oxygen in alumina. The total budget for producing aluminium from ore is 65 000MJ per tonne of aluminium produced. Extracting aluminium not only needs to use a vast amount of energy, it also needs specialised staff for the extraction process. Chemicals also need to be used in the process of refining bauxite to produce alumina. Aluminium ores are usually transported from mines in tropical places to refineries. This requires shipping which involves energy and money. Recycling, on the other hand, requires only 800MJ of. The cost is also around 19 times less than the energy used in extracting aluminium. Recycling aluminium also does not require the use of chemicals.

Melissa Kok

5. Water had a higher heat capacity than many other liquids

Explain what is meant by thermal pollution and discuss the implications for life if a body of water is affected by thermal pollution Thermal pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence. The temperature change can be upwards or downwards. Many industrial processes rely on cooling water, especially electric power production. The result is that they return the water to the environment at a higher temperature. The temperature of the source water is then polluted by heat. Warm water has less dissolved oxygen than cold water, so organisms may be killed by oxygendepleted hot water. Warm water also increases metabolic rate in cold-blooded organisms, requiring them to consume more food. The number of organisms that can be supported then declines because of reduced food supply. Large temperature increases may kill organisms directly by denaturing their proteins.