Science at key stage 3 (Year 9)
Unit 9F: Patterns of reactivity
Section 8: How does the activity series relate to uses and sources of metals?
|
|
Objectives |
| Children should learn: |
- to identify what information is needed, and use different texts as sources
- to structure paragraphs to develop points, using evidence and additional facts
- to relate the occurrence, extraction and use of metals to their position in the activity series
|
Activities |
|
Outcomes |
|
Children: |
- Introduce the activity with a short video illustrating the range and uses, and possibly extraction, of metals.
- Ask pupils to use secondary sources, together with their own knowledge of metals to find the answers to a series of questions of varying difficulty,
eg
-
Why is sodium not used for cutlery?
-
Why is a light metal like magnesium not used for car bodies?
-
Why has so much gold jewellery survived from ancient civilisations?
-
Why was bronze used before iron?
-
Aluminium is much more abundant than iron, so why wasn't it used until the beginning of the twentieth century?
-
Which metals are found naturally?
-
What are the sources of magnesium? Why is it not found naturally?
-
How are metals recycled?
- Ask pupils to present their findings and help them to organise the points to produce an information leaflet linking metals' reactivity to their uses (including when they were first used).
|
|
- identify key points relevant to the questions asked
- make connections between reactivity and aspects of use,
eg aluminium is reactive, and therefore hard to extract - this is why it wasn't used as early as iron
|
|
Points to note |
- In unit 9E 'Reactions of metals and metal compounds' pupils will have found out something about uses and sources of metals. This activity extends that work by relating it to the reactivity series.
- Pupils should be encouraged not to look in too much detail at extraction processes, but to identify the key point about the method,
eg electrolysis, smelting with carbon.
- Information about copper can be found on the internet,
eg at www.copper.org
|
|
|
This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
|
|
|
