Question

in electrometallurgy of aluminium, why is the graphite rod used?

Answer 1

Hint: Electrometallurgy is defined as the method in metallurgy that uses electrical energy to produce metal such as aluminium by electrolysis. It is the last stage in metal production as it is preceded by a hydrometallurgical process.

Complete step by step answer:
We know there are various methods to extract the metal like Electrolytic reduction method, Amalgamation process, Hydro-metallurgy process, reduction method etc. Electrometallurgy is one of them; in electrometallurgy electrical energy is used to produce metal. This method is used to extract the alumunium metal. A graphite rod is used to extract the metal, the role of graphite rod in this method; it is used as an anode and the graphite line iron as cathode during the electrolysis of aluminium metal.
Hence, the role of graphite in electrometallurgy of aluminium is to stop the liberation of oxygen so that aluminium is not oxidized by oxygen

Additional information:
Metallurgy: Metallurgy is the process of extracting the metal from their ores and refining them is called metallurgy
Ores: ores is those minerals from which the metals may be extracted economically and conveniently are called ores.
Mineral: Minerals are the natural materials found in the earth in which the metal occur in the combined state are called minerals
All the ores are mineral but not all the minerals are ores.

Note: The process used for the extraction of a metal depends on the nature of the ore from which the metal is being extracted and also the properties of metal. So, it is not possible to select a universal method for the extraction of all the metals.