why is gold easily extracted from the earth but metals such as iron and aliminium are more difficult to exstract?
I never thought of gold as being particularly easy to get, that’s why it’s expensive, maybe what you’re talking about is the fact that you can dig up gold in it’s "refined" state, where as with iron you dig up iron oxide and with aluminium you dig up bauxite, that’s because gold is a noble metal, it doesn’t need to form compounds with other elements to be chemically balanced, it’s chemically balanced in it’s pure state.
3 Responses to “why is gold easily extracted from the earth but metals like fe and al are not?”
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gold is more inert and hence is easier to find as an element
iron and aluminium are more reactive and hence are more likely to be found as a compound
iron rusts for a start
although gold can be found as an element, it is less abundant and harder to find than iron or aluminium
iron is usually extracted from its oxide and this requires heat and carbon monoxide
aluminium is prepared from its oxide using electrolysis
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I never thought of gold as being particularly easy to get, that’s why it’s expensive, maybe what you’re talking about is the fact that you can dig up gold in it’s "refined" state, where as with iron you dig up iron oxide and with aluminium you dig up bauxite, that’s because gold is a noble metal, it doesn’t need to form compounds with other elements to be chemically balanced, it’s chemically balanced in it’s pure state.
References :
Iron and aluminium oxidise easily, gold doesn’t.
References :