Explain Why Ores Are Non Renewable Resources

1) Define the terms mineral, ore, yield, mining and extraction.

Mineral: A natural occurring inorganic substance with a definite chemical composition and a regular internal structure (Most are crystals like salt and diamond).

Ore: A natural occurring mineral from which a valuable substance, such as a metal, can be extracted. Examples include brass and bronze.

Yield: Amount of product obtained in a chemical reaction.

Mining: The process of extracting ores and minerals from the ground.

Extraction: The separation of a desired substance when mixed with others.

2) Natural resources can be either renewable or non-renewable. Explain why ores are non-renewable resources.

Ores contain minerals, and minerals are non-renewable resources as they

The separate steps all associated with extraction add to the final cost. These steps are much more significant to the steps associated with recycling.

Due to the little use of energy, cost is majorly reduced. Aluminium is one of the cheapest things to recycle too and is able to be sold for a fairly profitable price to the industry if recycled as it is bought for a great amount of money from those willing to recycle goods such as aluminium cans.

Energy Expenditure

All of the steps for extraction require a large amount of energy that can be avoided by recycling.

Uses a small amount of energy to recycle the Aluminium. In 2007, United States, 54 billion aluminium cans were recycled, saving 15 million barrels of crude oil that would have otherwise been used as energy.

6) Steps to recycle Aluminium:

1. The aluminium is compressed in large blocks called bales. These bales are loaded onto a conveyor and then taken to a shredder.

2. The shredder the cuts the bales into smaller pieces about the size of a small coin so that it is easily cleaned of

Aluminium is in approximately 8.1% of the earths crust and therefore is very abundant. The extraction process of aluminium is high as it is difficult to extract and uses a great deal of energy, around 621 billion kilowatt hours in 2010, but its demand is very high and in 2010 there was 41.4 million tonnes of aluminium extracted.

9)

Step 1

Physical separation: Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) is found inside a rock and that rock is crushed into a ball mill. The ore is then mixed with water and other chemicals to make the copper sulphide minerals hydrophobic. Air is forced through the slurry and the hydrophobic sulphide particles are carried to the surface where they are removed. This is froth floatation and the product is called copper concentrate.

Step 2

Smelting: Silica (SiO2) and limestone (CaCO3) are mixed with the copper concentrate and smelted to form copper matte.

Step 3

Conversion to blister: The matte produced is 70% copper, primarily as copper sulfide mixed with iron sulfide. The sulfur is then removed by blowing air through molten matte. This removes the sulfur as sulfur dioxide:

2CuS(s) + 3O2(g) 2CuO(s) +