Titanium is a transition metal - AQA - GCSE Chemistry - Question 8 - 2018 - Paper 1
Question 8
Titanium is a transition metal.
Titanium is extracted from titanium dioxide in a two stage industrial process.
Stage 1
TiO$_2$ + 2 C + 2 Cl$_2$ → TiCl$_4$ + 2 CO
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Worked Solution & Example Answer:Titanium is a transition metal - AQA - GCSE Chemistry - Question 8 - 2018 - Paper 1
Step 1
Suggest one hazard associated with Stage 1.
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Answer
One hazard associated with Stage 1 is that chlorine is toxic. It poses health risks if inhaled or if it comes into contact with skin.
Step 2
Give one reason why it would be hazardous if water came into contact with sodium.
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Water is hazardous in contact with sodium because it produces hydrogen gas, which is highly explosive.
Step 3
Suggest why the reaction in Stage 2 is carried out in an atmosphere of argon and not in air.
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The reaction in Stage 2 is conducted in an atmosphere of argon to prevent oxidation of sodium and titanium, as they can react with oxygen and moisture from the air.
Step 4
Explain why you would not expect titanium chloride to be a liquid at room temperature.
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Titanium chloride is typically expected to be solid at room temperature because most metal chlorides are ionic compounds, which have high melting points due to strong electrostatic forces between ions. However, titanium chloride has a lower molecular mass and structure that allows it to be a liquid.
Step 5
Why is this an oxidation reaction?
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This is an oxidation reaction because sodium atoms lose electrons to become sodium ions, indicating that they are oxidized.
Step 6
Complete the half equation for the oxidation reaction.
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Na → Na+ + e−
Step 7
Explain why titanium chloride is the limiting reactant.
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To determine the limiting reactant, we calculate the moles of each reactant. Titanium chloride (TiCl4) has a molar mass of 190 g/mol. For 40 kg of TiCl4, we need 40,000 g / 190 g/mol = 210.53 moles. For 20 kg of sodium (Na), we need 20,000 g / 23 g/mol = 869.57 moles. Since the reaction requires 4 moles of Na for every mole of TiCl4, we would need 4 * 210.53 = 842.12 moles of Na for the available titanium chloride. Since we only have 869.57 moles of sodium, the titanium chloride is the limiting reactant.
Step 8
Calculate the actual mass of titanium produced.
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To find the actual mass produced, we use the percentage yield: Actual mass = (Percentage yield / 100) * Theoretical mass. Thus, the actual mass of titanium produced is 0.923 * 13.5 kg = 12.5 kg.
