# Iron is found in the Earth's crust as iron oxide ore. To extract iron, the ore is heated with carbon in a blast furnace. Explain why iron can be extracted using carbon, but gold does not need to be extracted this way.

> Eduqas GCSE Chemistry — 2.3 Metals and their extraction · Explain · 4 marks

> Many metals are found in the Earth's crust as ores. The method used to extract a metal depends on its position in the reactivity series. Carbon can be used to extract some metals from their ores. Gold, however, is found as the pure metal in the Earth's crust.

## Mark scheme (4 marks)

1. Iron is more reactive than carbon / carbon is more reactive than iron
2. Carbon displaces / reduces iron from its oxide ore
3. Gold is (very) unreactive / gold is at the bottom of the reactivity series
4. Gold does not react with other elements / gold is found uncombined (as the native metal) in the Earth's crust

## Key terms

- [ore](https://www.gradenine.co.uk/glossary/ore)

## Related

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Source: [GradeNine](https://www.gradenine.co.uk/q/iron-is-found-in-the-earth-s-b7b96a63) · Published by Druglandscape Ltd.