Question

Calamine is the ore of zinc.
A. True
B. False.

Answer 1

Hint: Zinc exists in the ore as carbonates, sulfides or silicates. Ther ores of zinc are found to exist in the Belgian and German villages known as La Calamine.


Complete step by step answer:
Zinc is an element in the periodic table with atomic number \[30\] . It is generally obtained from its ore by froth flotation, roasting and extraction.
Zinc is an essential nutrient in everyday life. It gives immunity against many diseases. It is useful in prenatal and postnatal development. It is beneficial for proper growth, preventing infection and diarrhea.
Zinc with atomic number \[30\] is an element of the transition metal series. Its electronic configuration is \[\left[ {Ar} \right]3{d^{10}}4{s^2}\] . It normally exhibits a \[ + 2\] oxidation state in its compounds.
The most common ore of zinc obtained from nature is zinc sulfide (\[ZnS\]) also known as sphalerite (zinc blende). The other sources of zinc are zinc carbonate (\[ZnC{O_3}\]) known as calamine or smithsonite and zinc silicate (\[Z{n_4}S{i_2}{O_7}{\left( {OH} \right)_2}\cdot{H_2}O\]) known as hemimorphite.
Zinc is obtained from the calamine ore using the calcination technique. For this the ore is heated at high temperature to melt the solid zinc carbonate and remove the volatile impurities. This leads to decomposition of the zinc carbonate into zinc oxide and carbon dioxide. The zinc oxide is then treated with coke which reduces the zinc oxide to zinc. The coke contains carbon which acts as a reducing agent.
$ZnC{O_3}(S)\xrightarrow{{calcination}}ZnO(s) + C{O_2}(g)$
$ZnO(s) + C(s)\xrightarrow{{reduction}}Zn(s) + C{O_2}(g)$

Hence, the given statement is true, i.e. option A is the correct answer.

Note: Zinc is obtained using calcination and reduction processes from its ore calamine(\[ZnC{O_3}\]). The term calamine is no longer used and is replaced with smithsonite.