Question

Cans for food and drinks are made from steel or aluminium The main metal in steel is iron. Iron is extracted by heating a mixture of iron oxide and carbon in a blast furnace. What type of reaction is this?

Answer 1

See this old answer.

Explanation:

The production of iron from ore in a blast furnace clearly falls under the umbrella of redox reactions:

`Fe_2O_3(s) + 3CO(g) rarr 2Fe(l) + 3CO_2(g)`

The coke (the carbon) is first oxidized to `CO`, and the carbon monoxide reduces the ferric oxide. Can you assign oxidation states to the individual elements in the given rxn? All you need to know that the oxidation state of oxygen is here `-II`.