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Silicothermic Reaction
Silicothermic reactions are thermic chemical reactions using silicon as the reducing agent at high temperature (800-1400°C). The most prominent example is the Pidgeon process for reducing magnesium metal from ores. Other processes include the Bolzano process and the magnetherm process. All three are commercially used for magnesium production. The silicothermic process for magnesium production was developed commercially in Canada during the Second World War''Encyclopedia of materials, parts and finishes'', 2nd edition, Mel M. Schwartz, 2002, p. 371, by Lloyd Montgomery Pidgeon. See also *Aluminothermic reaction *Calciothermic reaction Calciothermic reactions are metallothermic reduction reactions (more generally, thermic chemical reactions) which use calcium metal as the reducing agent at high temperature. Calcium is one of the most potent reducing agents available, usually dra ... References Metallurgy Metallurgical processes Inorganic reactions Silicon {{reactio ...
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Exothermic
In thermodynamics, an exothermic process () is a thermodynamic process or reaction that releases energy from the system to its surroundings, usually in the form of heat, but also in a form of light (e.g. a spark, flame, or flash), electricity (e.g. a battery), or sound (e.g. explosion heard when burning hydrogen). The term ''exothermic'' was first coined by 19th-century French chemist Marcellin Berthelot. The opposite of an exothermic process is an endothermic process, one that absorbs energy usually in the form of heat. The concept is frequently applied in the physical sciences to chemical reactions where chemical bond energy is converted to thermal energy (heat). Two types of chemical reactions Exothermic and endothermic describe two types of chemical reactions or systems found in nature, as follows: Exothermic After an exothermic reaction, more energy has been released to the surroundings than was absorbed to initiate and maintain the reaction. An example would be the burn ...
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Chemical Reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the positions of electrons in the forming and breaking of chemical bonds between atoms, with no change to the Atomic nucleus, nuclei (no change to the elements present), and can often be described by a chemical equation. Nuclear chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that involves the chemical reactions of unstable and radioactive Chemical element, elements where both electronic and nuclear changes can occur. The substance (or substances) initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reagent, reactants or reagents. Chemical reactions are usually characterized by a chemical change, and they yield one or more Product (chemistry), products, which usually have properties different from the reactants. Reactions often consist of a sequence o ...
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Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic table: carbon is above it; and germanium, tin, lead, and flerovium are below it. It is relatively unreactive. Because of its high chemical affinity for oxygen, it was not until 1823 that Jöns Jakob Berzelius was first able to prepare it and characterize it in pure form. Its oxides form a family of anions known as silicates. Its melting and boiling points of 1414 °C and 3265 °C, respectively, are the second highest among all the metalloids and nonmetals, being surpassed only by boron. Silicon is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass, but very rarely occurs as the pure element in the Earth's crust. It is widely distributed in space in cosmic dusts, planetoids, and planets as various forms of silicon dioxide ( ...
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Redox
Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate (chemistry), substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of Electron, electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a decrease in the oxidation state. There are two classes of redox reactions: * ''Electron-transfer'' – Only one (usually) electron flows from the reducing agent to the oxidant. This type of redox reaction is often discussed in terms of redox couples and electrode potentials. * ''Atom transfer'' – An atom transfers from one substrate to another. For example, in the rusting of iron, the oxidation state of iron atoms increases as the iron converts to an oxide, and simultaneously the oxidation state of oxygen decreases as it accepts electrons released by the iron. Although oxidation reactions are commonly associated with the formation of oxides, other chemical species can serve the same function. In hydrogen ...
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Pidgeon Process
The Pidgeon process is one of the methods of magnesium metal production, via a silicothermic reduction. Practical production requires roughly 35–40 MWh/ton of metal produced, which is on par with the molten salt electrolytic methods of production, though above the 7 MWh/ton theoretical minimum. Chemistry The basic chemical equation of this process is: : Si( s) + 2 MgO(s) → SiO2(s) + 2 Mg(g) (high temperature, distillation boiling zone) Silicon and magnesia react to produce silica and magnesium. Though according to Ellingham diagrams this reaction is thermodynamically unfavorable, in accordance with the Le Chatelier's principle of equilibria it can still be driven to the right by continuous supply of heat, and by removing one of the products, namely distilling out the magnesium vapor. The atmospheric pressure boiling point of magnesium metal is relatively low, only 1090 °C, and even lower in vacuum. Vacuum is preferred, because it allows lower temperatures. The most ...
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Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table) it occurs naturally only in combination with other elements and it almost always has an oxidation state of +2. It reacts readily with air to form a thin passivation coating of magnesium oxide that inhibits further corrosion of the metal. The free metal burns with a brilliant-white light. The metal is obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine. It is less dense than aluminium and is used primarily as a component in strong and lightweight alloys that contain aluminium. In the cosmos, magnesium is produced in large, aging stars by the sequential addition of three helium nuclei to a carbon nucleus. When such stars explode as supernovas, much of the magnesium is expelled into the interstellar medium where it ma ...
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Bolzano Process
The Bolzano process is a means to reduce magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ... to metallic form. "Dolomite-ferrosilicon briquettes are stacked on a special charge support system through which internal electric heating is conducted to the charge. A complete reaction takes 20 to 24 hours at 1,200 °C." In 2014, Brazilian operations produced 10-15 kilotons of Mg by this process. Also in 2014, Nevada Clean Magnesium announced its Tami-Mosi plan to create a ASTM B-92 pilot plant. The mineral resource is estimated at 412 billion tons of 12.3% grade Mg. The company produced its first ingot from a pilot plant in December 2018. References {{reflist Metallurgy Metallurgical processes Smelting ...
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Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ...
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Lloyd Montgomery Pidgeon
Lloyd Montgomery Pidgeon, (December 3, 1903 – December 9, 1999) was a Canadian chemist who developed the Pidgeon process, one of the methods of magnesium metal production, via a silicothermic reduction. He is considered the "father" of academic metallurgical research in Canada. Biography Born in Markham, Ontario, the son of E. Leslie Pidgeon, a United Church of Canada minister, and Edith Gilker, he received a Bachelor of Arts in science from the University of Manitoba in 1925, a Master of Science from McGill University in 1927, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from McGill University in 1929. In 1929, Pidgeon was awarded a Sir William Ramsay Memorial Fellowship from Oxford University and worked under Sir Alfred Egerton until 1931. In 1931, he joined the National Research Council, where he discovered the process that bears his name. Because of the demand for magnesium during the Second World War, a magnesium plant was built by Dominion Magnesium Limited (DML) near Ottawa, and five ...
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Aluminothermic Reaction
Aluminothermic reactions are exothermic chemical reactions using aluminum as the reducing agent at high temperature. The process is industrially useful for production of alloys of iron. The most prominent example is the thermite reaction between iron oxides and aluminum to produce iron itself: : Fe2O3 + 2 Al → 2 Fe + Al2O3 This specific reaction is however not relevant to the most important application of aluminothermic reactions, the production of ferroalloys. For the production of iron, a cheaper reducing agent, coke, is used instead via the carbothermic reaction. History Aluminothermy started from the experiments of Russian scientist Nikolay Beketov at the University of Kharkiv in Ukraine, who proved that aluminum restored metals from their oxides under high temperatures. The reaction was first used for the carbon-free reduction of metal oxides. The reaction is highly exothermic, but it has a high activation energy since strong interatomic bonds in the solids m ...
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Calciothermic Reaction
Calciothermic reactions are metallothermic reduction reactions (more generally, thermic chemical reactions) which use calcium metal as the reducing agent at high temperature. Calcium is one of the most potent reducing agents available, usually drawn as the strongest oxidic reductant in Ellingham diagrams, though the lanthanides best it in this respect in oxide processes. On the other hand, this trend does not continue to other compounds that are non-oxides, and for instance lanthanum is produced by the calciothermic reduction of the chloride, calcium being a more potent reducing agent than lanthanum involving chlorides. Calciothermic processes are used in the extraction of metals such as uranium, zirconium, and thorium from oxide ores. An interesting way of performing calciothermic reductions is by in-situ generated metallic calcium, dissolved in molten calcium chloride, as shown in the FFC Cambridge Process. See also * Aluminothermic reaction * Silicothermic reaction Silicother ...
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