What chemical process is used for obtaining a metal from its oxide?
Answer
- Reduction is used for obtaining metals from their oxides.
- An element more reactive than the metal in metal oxide is used to displace the metal from its oxide and obtain pure metal.
For example,
Manganese Oxide is Reduced to Manganese with the help of Aluminium.
Manganese Oxide reacts with Aluminium to form Manganese+Aluminium Oxide
3MnO 2 (s) + 4Al (s) → 3Mn (l) + 2Al 2 O 3 (s) + Heat
Copper is also purified using electrolytic refining with the help of Cu Sulphate solution.