Topic.

9
Metals
The physical properties of metals
1- All metals are good conductors of electricity and heat.
2- All metals are malleable and ductile.
3- Most metals are strong and hard.
4- Most metals are sonorous: (Make a ringing noise when you strike them).
5- Most metals are shiny when polished.
6- Most metals have high melting and boiling points. (Except, mercury is liquid.)
7- Most metals high density – they feel ‘heavy’.
Note
These properties are typical properties of metals, but not all metals share all of these properties.
Ex- As sodium is soft, melts at 98 C and very reactive
while gold is hard, melts at 1064 C and least reactive.

The chemical properties of metals

1- They react with oxygen to form oxides.
Ex- magnesium burns in air to form magnesium oxide.
2- Metal oxides are bases oxides
3- Metals form positive ions when they react.
Ex- magnesium forms magnesium ions (Mg +2 ) when it reacts with oxygen.
4- The charge of the ion is the same as the group number.
But the transition elements will form ions with variable charges.
Ex- Copper can form two different ions Cu+2 and Cu+1 .

1|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

The reactions of metals
1- The reaction of metals with water
Metals reacts with water to produce Hydrogen gas and a solution of hydroxide or metal oxides.

Metal Reaction with water Products

Potassium Very violent with cold water KOH + H2
Sodium Violent with cold water NaOH + H2
Calcium Less violent with cold water Ca(OH)2 + H2

Magnesium Vigorous with steam MgO + H2

Zinc Quite slow with steam ZnO + H2
Iron(III) Slow with steam Fe2O3 + H2
Lead, Copper No reaction --

2- The reaction of metals with acid

The metals react with acids and replace the hydrogen and from salts.
Reaction with
Metal hydrochloric acid Products

Magnesium Vigorous MgCl2 + H2

Zinc Quite slow ZnCl2 + H2
Iron Slow FeCl2 + H2
Lead Slow, only with concentrated acid PbCl2 + H2
Copper, No reaction, even with
-
Silver, Gold concentrated acid

2- The reaction of metals with Oxygen

The metals react with acids and replace the hydrogen and from salts.
Metal Reaction with Oxygen Products
Na , K , Ca Burn strongly to form oxide Metal oxide
Al , Zn , Fe Burn less strongly to form oxide Metal oxide
Pb , Cu React slowly to form oxide when heated Metal oxide
Ag , Au Do not react or burn -

2|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

 Displacement Reactions show the difference of reactivity in metals
• Displacement Reactions can help to place particular metals more in the reactivity series.
• In this type of reaction,
“The more reactive element will displace the less reactive metals from solutions of its salts”

1- Magnesium Vs Copper
• magnesium is left in a blue solution of Copper (II) Sulfate
• Copper coats the surface of the Gray magnesium and forms brown solid metal.
• The blue colour of solution fade as colourless zinc sulphate solution forms.
Mg (s) + CuSO4 (aq) MgSO4 (aq) + C𝑢𝑢 (s)

Magnesium displaces copper from its solution, so Magnesium is more reactive than copper.

2- Iron vs Copper in solution

• Iron nail is left in a blue solution of copper (II) sulphate solution.
• Copper coats the surface of Gray iron nail into brown copper
• The blue solution of copper (II) sulphate turns green, which indicates iron (II) ions.
• Iron wins against copper. It displaces the copper from the copper(II) sulphate solution:
F𝑒𝑒 (s) + CuSO4 (aq) FeSO4 (aq)
+ Cu (s)

Iron displaces copper from its solution, so Iron is more reactive than copper.

3|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

The reactivity series
We can use the results of the experiments in the last
page to put the metals in final order, with the most
reactive one first.
The list is called the reactivity series.
Things to remember about the reactivity series.
1- The reactivity series is really a list of the metals in
order of their drive to form positive ions, with
stable outer shells.
The more easily its atoms can give up electrons,
the more reactive the metal will be.

2- The metal will react with a compound of a less

reactive metal, like (an oxide, or a salt in solution)
by pushing the less reactive metal out of the
compound and taking its place.

3- The more reactive the metal, the more difficult it

is to extract from its ores, since these are stable
compounds.

Uses of metals

Metal Used for Properties that make it suitable

Good conductor of electricity

Overhead electricity cables
Cheaper and much lighter than copper
Aluminium
Cooking foil, food cartons
Non-toxic, resistant to corrosion
and drinks cans

Electrical wiring Good conductor of electricity, Ductile

Copper
Water pipe Strong and easily to bend, low reactivity

Protecting steel from Resists corrosion, but offers sacrificial

Zinc
rusting (galvanization) protection if coating cracks

4|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

 Metals in the Earth’s crust

• We get most metals from the Earth’s crust.

• The crust is mostly made of compounds.

• Some elements such as copper, silver, mercury, platinum, and gold found
uncombined or native, because they are unreactive and all you need to get the
metal is to separate it from sand and other impurities

• The other elements especially metals found in earth crust as a compounds in a rocks
that is worth to digging them up to extract the metal.

• Rocks from which metals are obtained are called ores.

Examples of Metal ores

• Rock salt, the main ore of sodium. It is mostly sodium chloride.
• Bauxite, the main ore of aluminium. It is mostly aluminium oxide.
• Hematite, the main ore of iron, it is mostly iron (III) Oxide.

Extracting metals from their ores

• After mining an ore, the next step is to remove or extract the metal from it, which
depends on the metal’s reactivity.

• The compounds of the more reactive metals are very stable, and need electrolysis to
reduce them, but it costs a lot because it uses a lot of electricity.

• The compounds of the less reactive metals are less stable, and can be reduced using a
suitable reducing agent.

5|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

Extraction of iron
• This diagram shows the blast furnace used for
extracting iron from its ore.

What’s in the charge?

The charge contains three things:
1- Iron ore. (Hematite).
2- Limestone. (Mainly calcium carbonate, CaCO3)
3- Coke. A type of coal (pure carbon).

The reactions in the blast furnace

Stage 1: The coke burns, giving off heat.

The blast of hot air starts the coke burning.
It reacts with the oxygen in the air, giving carbon
dioxide and heat:
C (s) + O2 (g) CO2 (g) + heat
Stage 2: Carbon monoxide is made
The carbon dioxide reacts with more coke, like this:
C (s) + CO2 (g) 2CO (g)
In this redox reaction, the carbon dioxide loses
oxygen and reduced.

Stage 3: The iron (III) oxide is reduced

Carbon monoxide reacts with the iron ore, giving liquid iron.
Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) 2Fe (l) + 3CO2 (g)
The iron trickles to the bottom of the furnace.

The role of limestone.

The limestone breaks down in the heat of the furnace:
CaCO3 (s) CaO (s) + CO2 (g)
The calcium oxide that forms reacts with the sand, which is mainly silicon dioxide or silica:
CaO (s) + SiO2 (s) CaSiO3 (s)
Calcium oxide is a basic oxide react with Silica which is an acidic oxide to form Calcium
silicate which is a salt.
The calcium silicate forms a slag which runs down the furnace and floats on the iron.
6|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah
Alloys
Alloy: it is a mixture of two or more elements at least one of them is metal.
Alloy designed to have properties that are useful for a particular purpose.

Alloy are designed for

1- Make metal more resistant to corrosion.
2- Increase the strength of the metals.
3- Improve its appearance.

Ex- Mixing molten zinc and copper gives the gold

coloured alloy called brass.

Why an alloy can be harder and stronger than the pure metals?
When the metal is turned into an alloy, new atoms with different sized enter the lattice
that mean the layers can no longer slide over each other easily like before.

Some examples of alloys

There are thousands of different alloys. Here are a couple of examples

Alloy Made from Special properties Used for

70% iron Kitchen cutlery, tanks
• Harder than iron
Stainless steel 20% chromium and pipes in factories,
• Don’t rust
10% nickel surgical instruments.
99.7% iron Car bodies, chains,
Mild steel • Stronger than iron
0.3 % carbon pylon
90.25% Aluminium
6% chromium Hard and strong
Aluminium alloy Air craft
2.5% nickel Light and low density
1.25 % copper
70% copper Harder than copper; Musical instruments,
Brass
30% zinc Does not corrode Ornaments, door knobs.

95% copper Harder than brass; Status, bells

Bronze
5% tin Does not corrode Machine parts.

7|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah

Corrosion of metals
• When a metal attacked by air, water or other substance, it is said to be corrode.
• In case of iron and steel the corrosion process is a called rusting
• Rust is red-brown colour called hydrated iron (III) oxide
• Oxygen and water must be present for rust to occur.
• Rusting occurs faster in salty water and with acid rain because of the presence of
ions that increases the electrical conductivity of the water.

An experiment to investigate that factor that is essential rusting

1- Stand three identical nails in three test-tubes.
2- Now prepare the test-tubes as below, so that:
– Test-tube 1 contains both air and water.
– Test-tube 2 contains water but no air.
– Test-tube 3 has dry air.
3- Leave the test-tubes to one side for one week or more.

Result
After several days, the nails in test-tubes 2 and 3 show no signs of Rusting,
But the nail in test-tube 1 has rust on it.
This is because: Rusting requires oxygen and water.
A note about the reactivity of Aluminium
Aluminium is more reactive than iron. But it didn’t get rust Why?
• Because aluminium protects itself, as It reacts rapidly with oxygen, forming a thin
coat of aluminium oxide – so thin you cannot see it.
• This sticks tight to the metal, acting as a barrier to further corrosion. So the
aluminium behaves as if it were unreactive.
• Chromium like aluminium protect if self by the oxide layer
8|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah
Rusting Prevention
1- Barrier Methods
The aim in this method to keep out iron from contact with oxygen and water.
You could use one of the following methods:
• Paint
Paint can be used to protect many things like Steel bridges, railings.
Some paint reacts with metal to form a strong protective layer.
If the layer of the paint scratch, it will not protect the iron unless it repainted again.

• Grease
Grease or oil can provide a protective layer for tools and machine parts from water.
Grease must added from time to time to keep protection.

• Plastic coating
(PVC) Plastic can be used as a protective layer on items like refrigerators.
• Galvanization
Iron or steel is coated with zinc. It is used:-
• For car bodies, this is carried out by a form of electrolysis.
• For roofing, the iron is dipped in a bath of molten zinc.
The zinc coating keeps air and moisture away. But if the coating gets damaged, the
zinc will still protect the iron, by sacrificial protection.
2- The sacrificial protection of iron
• In this method, to prevent Rust, the iron can be teamed up with a more reactive
metal like zinc or magnesium.

• During rusting, iron is oxidised and loses

electrons.
Zinc is more reactive than iron, which
means it has a stronger drive to lose
electrons.

• So, when a bar of zinc is attached to a steel ship, or the leg of an oil rig, it will lose
electros to oxygen and react instead of the iron which not oxidized or lose
electrons.
• It has been sacrificed to protect the iron.

Note:- The zinc block must be replaced before it all dissolves away and get rust.

9|Page Mr. Mohamed Salah