METALS

IGCSE O LEVEL

By Leni W
 Metals
• Silver and gold are often used in jewellery.
• Titanium and zirconium are often used in jet
engines, aircraft and spacecraft parts.
 Metals
• Properties
- they are good conductors of electricity.
- they are good conductors of heat.
- they usually have high densities, melting
points and boiling points.
- they are malleable and ductile
 Pure metals

Atom of metals are packed

regularly in layers

Layers of atoms slide over one

another easily when a force is
applied
 Alloys
• An alloy is an mixture of a metal with one or a
few other elements.

• There are four main reasons for making alloys:

- to make metals harder and stronger
- to improve the appearance of metals
- to lower the melting points of metals
- to make metals more resistant to corrosion.
alloys
 Metallic Bond
A metallic bond is a type of chemical bond
 formed between positively charged atoms in
which the free electrons are shared among a
lattice of cations. In contrast, covalent and 
ionic bonds form between two discrete atoms.
Metallic bonding is the main type of chemical
bond that forms between metal atoms.
 Examples of alloys
Alloys Composition Special properties Uses
brass copper (70%) Does not corrode Decorative
zinc (30%) easily, attractive ornaments, musical
yellow colour like instrument, coins
gold
stainless steel iron (73%) Resistant to Cutlery, utensils,
chromium (18%) corrosion medical
nickel (8%) instruments, pipes
carbon (1%) in chemical
industries
solder tin (50%) Low melting point Joining metals, e.g
lead (50%) joining metals pipes
pewter Tin (95%) Bright, shiny colour Decorative
Antimony (3.5%) like silver ornaments
Copper (1.5%)
Question
Brass is an alloy.
Which statement about brass is correct?

A. It contains a sea of electrons.

B. It is a compound of two or more metals.
C. It is a compound of a metal and a non-metal.
D. It contains positive and negative ions which are
free to move.

source: CIE O Level Chem 2018 P1

 Question
Metals have a structure of positive ions in a ‘sea of
electrons’.
Metals are malleable because it is possible to force
the ions to slide over each other. The alloy brass
is ......1...... malleable than pure copper and than
pure zinc.
Brass is ......2...... to conduct electricity.
Which words correctly complete gaps 1 and 2?
 The Reactivity Series
Based on the reactions of metals with cold water, steam and dilute
hydrochloric acid, we can place the metals in order of their reactivity.

Most
reactive
K
Extracted by electrolysis
Na
Ca Reactive, very difficult to be broken down, can only be extracted
using electricity, called electrolysis.
Mg
Zn
Extracted by reduction with carbon
Fe
Not so reactive, readily extracted by reducing their oxides with
Pb carbon.
Cu
Ag
Question
Which statement about the reactions of some metals and
metal compounds is correct?

A. Zinc displaces copper from aqueous copper(II) sulfate.

B. Copper reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid to form
hydrogen.
C. Zinc carbonate is more thermally stable than sodium
carbonate.
D. Sodium oxide is reduced to sodium metal by heating
with carbon.
 Question
The results of experiments involving four metals, W,
X, Y and Z, and their ions are shown.
Y(s) + Z+ (aq) → Y+ (aq) + Z(s)
W(s) + X+ (aq) → no reaction
Z(s) + X+ (aq) → Z+ (aq) + X(s)
What is the order of reactivity of the four metals,
most reactive to least reactive?
A. W → X → Y → Z
B. X → W → Z → Y
C. Y → Z → X → W
D. Z → Y → W → X
Blast furnace
What chemical reactions take place in the
blast furnace?
1. Carbon dioxide is produced.
Carbon in coke burns in a blast of hot air to produce
carbon dioxide.
C + O2  CO2
2. Carbon monoxide is produced.
It reacts with more coke to form carbon monoxide.
C + CO2  2CO
3. Haematite is reduced to iron.
The carbon monoxide reduces the iron(III) oxide to iron.
Fe2O3 + 3CO  2Fe + 3CO2

4. Impurities are removed.

- Limestone (calcium carbonate ) is decomposed by heat
to produce carbon dioxide and calcium oxide (quicklime).
CaCO3  CaO + CO2
- Calcium oxide reacts with silicon dioxide and with other
impurities to form molten slag (calcium silicate).
CaO + SiO2  CaSiO3
Question
Iron is obtained in the blast furnace from the ore
haematite. Which process takes place in the
blast furnace?
A. Coke is reduced to carbon dioxide.
B. Haematite is oxidised by carbon monoxide.
C. Haematite undergoes thermal decomposition.
D. Calcium carbonate is used to remove acidic
impurities.
Question
Which two substances are removed from the bottom of a
blast furnace?
1 coke
2 iron
3 limestone
4 slag
A. 1 and 3
B. 1 and 4
C. 2 and 3
D. 2 and 4
Question
Which metal oxide will be reduced by heating
with iron?

A. calcium oxide
B. lead oxide
C. magnesium oxide
D. zinc oxide
Question
Which metal is used in the galvanising of iron?

A. calcium
B. copper
C. lead
D. zinc