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We can recycle metals to conserve them.

Chemistry - Making Metal Supplies Go Further (AQA)

Metals are valuable and limited. This quiz explores how recycling, reusing and smarter design help our metal supplies last longer and reduce the environmental damage from mining.

Explore the Topic →

(quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

Recycling aluminium saves about 95% of the energy needed to make it from ore.

In GCSE Science (Chemistry), you learn how recycling, reusing and reducing metal use can make our resources last longer. These ideas help cut energy use, costs and environmental impact.

Key Terms

Recycling: Processing used materials so they can be made into new products instead of using fresh raw materials.
Ore: Rock that contains enough metal compound for it to be worth extracting the metal.
Raw material: A natural substance, such as metal ore, used as the starting point for making useful products.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

Why is recycling metals important in GCSE Chemistry?

Recycling metals is important because it usually uses much less energy than extracting metals from ore. It also reduces mining, saves resources and cuts pollution from processing.

Why is aluminium recycled so widely?

Aluminium is recycled widely because it can be melted and reused many times without losing quality. Recycling it uses far less energy than making it from bauxite ore.

How can we make metal supplies go further?

We can make metal supplies go further by recycling scrap metal, designing products that last longer, repairing items instead of replacing them and using alternatives where possible.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Which of the following is not an environmental benefit of recycling metals?

It requires less energy than extracting from an ore

It reduces the amount of landfill

It reduces the cost of the metal

Less metal ore needs to be taken from the ground

The tricky choice here is between less energy and reduces the cost. Using less energy is environmental as the energy has to be obtained either as electricity or from a fuel. Some electricity is generated in a carbon neutral way but the majority of it has an environmental cost

2 .

Why is it cheaper to recycle metals than to extract them from their ore?

It can be done closer to where the metals are thrown away

Transporting scrap metal is cheaper than transporting the ore

The people who do the recycling are paid less than people who extract metals from the ores

There are far less processes involved in recycling than in extracting metal from an ore

The other three answers could be true but the essence of recycling is that it is a lot simpler. Since they are not being extracted from an ore, there are no costs for mining the ore, transporting the ore, purifying the ore and so on

3 .

When they reach the place they are to be recycled, how is recycling of metals carried out?

Metals are added to their molten ore

Metals are taken from pieces of waste recovered from spoil heaps

Metals are reduced using carbon and moulded into ingots

Metals are melted down and reshaped

For example, one way that scrap iron is melted down and recycled is by adding it into the same vessel being used to lower the amount of carbon in the iron straight from the blast furnace

4 .

Why is extracting iron from its ore so expensive compared to recycling it?

Iron ore has to be mined

The iron ore needs to be purified

Extraction requires chemical reactions to be carried out

All of the above

And more! The ore has to be transported, often to a different country. The blast furnace is large and expensive and the iron from the blast furnace needs to be further purified

5 .

Apart from the costs associated with preparing the ore, which of the following is likely to make extracting aluminium expensive?

The cost of the staff needed to work in the factory

The cost of the electricity used during the electrolysis of the aluminium ore

The cost of the carbon required to displace the aluminium from its ore

The cost of casting the aluminium into ingots

The extraction of aluminium does not need a large number of workers so the first answer is unlikely to be correct. Carbon is not reactive enough to reduce aluminium so that one is wrong and casting ingots is very simple which just leaves the cost of electricity

6 .

Why is aluminium easy to recycle?

It is a shiny metal

It is a soft metal

It is mainly made into drinks cans

It has a relatively low melting point for a metal

It melts at 660^oC which is lower than the temperature that is needed to extract it from its ore

7 .

Titanium is also an expensive metal. Only a small portion is ever recycled. Which of the following reasons is the most likely explanation?

It is usually used in small quantities to make alloys rather than using it on its own

It is only used to make small items and it is not worth it

It is a heavy metal and the cost of transporting it for recycling is too expensive

All of the above

Metals used in alloys are difficult to separate into the original metals

8 .

Which of the following environmental issues could recycling metals reduce?

Air pollution in cities

Low level atmospheric ozone

Pollution of land and rivers

Cutting down of forests

This question tests if you are aware that the extraction and processing of a metal ore creates a lot of pollution, which often ends up on land or in watercourses

9 .

Read the following information and then decide which of the four answers contains the missing words in the correct order.

Before any metals can be ________ the scrap metal has to be collected, ____________ and sorted, which all cost money. The main problem with recycling metals is ____________ the useful metal from the rest of the rubbish. In domestic recycling plants iron and steel objects can be picked out using an __________ as most other materials are non-magnetic.

transported, recycled, electromagnetism, separated

taken, melted, removing, electromagnet

recycled, transported, separating, electromagnet

recycled, stored, picking, brush

Some of the sorting of rubbish for recycling has to be done by hand

10 .

Why is the recycling of copper becoming more and more important?

The world's reserves of high grade copper ores are very limited and could be exhausted within a few human generations

Many copper manufacturers have gone out of business so not much is being made

It is a precious metal

New laws have made copper ore mining much more difficult

Copper is a vital metal to our modern standards of living. It is used in making water pipes, electrical wires, components for smartphones and many more everyday items

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Metals and alloys - AQA

Author: Kev Woodward (PGCE, Science & Chemistry Teacher, Quiz Writer)