Magnesium is a valuable, light weight metal used as a structural material as well as in alloys, batt — Metallurgy and Isolation of Elements Chemistry Question
Question
Magnesium is a valuable, light weight metal used as a structural material as well as in alloys, batteries, and in chemical synthesis. Although magnesium is plentiful in Earth's crust, it is mainly found in the sea water (after sodium). There is about 1.3 g of magnesium in every kilogram of sea water. The process for obtaining magnesium from sea water employs all three types of reactions, i.e., precipitation, acid-base, and redox-reactions.
💡 Solution & Explanation
Step 1: Highly electropositive metals (like alkali and alkaline earth metals) have a very high affinity for oxygen and carbon. Step 2: At the high temperatures required for carbon reduction, these metals readily react with the reducing agent (carbon) to form very stable ionic metal carbides rather than the free metal. Step 3: Consequently, carbon reduction is not a commercially viable method for extracting highly electropositive metals. Thus, the correct option is (b).