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Board questions on metallurgy look like a memory test: name the process, write the equation. They are easier if you see that one question decides almost everything: how reactive is the metal? This post follows the NCERT steps, checks each equation atom by atom, and practises choosing a route for an ore you are given.
Is metallurgy still in the syllabus?
Yes for Class 10. The CBSE Class X Science curriculum for 2026-27 lists "Basic metallurgical processes" in Metals and Non-metals, which is part of the 25-mark Unit I. The text is section 3.4 of the NCERT Class 10 Science chapter, Metals and Non-metals (2026-27 reprint).
It is worth knowing what happens later. The current NCERT Class 12 Chemistry books have no chapter on isolating metals, and the JEE (Main) 2026 syllabus has no metallurgy unit. The JEE (Advanced) 2026 brochure still lists "Isolation of Metals", including reduction of oxides and refining. So the Class 10 ideas are the base for JEE Advanced students, who will need to study further from other sources.
How does the activity series pick the method?
NCERT's Figure 3.9 splits the series into three bands:
Low reactivity (Cu, Ag, Au): often found free. Their oxides can be reduced by heating alone.
Middle (Zn, Fe, Pb): found as oxides, sulphides or carbonates. Convert to the oxide, then reduce with carbon.
High (K, Na, Ca, Mg, Al): never found free. Carbon cannot reduce their oxides, because these metals have more affinity for oxygen than carbon does, so they are obtained by electrolysis.
Before any of this, the ore is enriched: the gangue (soil, sand and other impurities) is removed using differences in physical or chemical properties.
Roasting or calcination?
NCERT explains that it is easier to get a metal from its oxide than from a sulphide or carbonate.
Roasting: a sulphide ore heated strongly in excess air. 2ZnS + 3O2 → 2ZnO + 2SO2
Calcination: a carbonate ore heated strongly in limited air. ZnCO3 → ZnO + CO2
Then reduction: ZnO + C → Zn + CO.
Worked example 1: check the equations atom by atom
Roasting zinc sulphide. Start with ZnS + O2 → ZnO + SO2. Zinc: 1 and 1. Sulphur: 1 and 1. Oxygen: 2 on the left, 1 + 2 = 3 on the right. To get 3 on the left you would need 1.5 O2, so double everything: 2ZnS + 3O2 → 2ZnO + 2SO2. Check oxygen: 6 on the left, 2 + 4 = 6 on the right.
Copper from Cu2S by heating alone. NCERT gives 2Cu2S + 3O2 → 2Cu2O + 2SO2, then 2Cu2O + Cu2S → 6Cu + SO2. Check the second: copper 4 + 2 = 6; oxygen 2 and 2; sulphur 1 and 1. Balanced.
Manganese with aluminium. 3MnO2 + 4Al → 3Mn + 2Al2O3. Manganese 3 and 3; oxygen 6 and 2 × 3 = 6; aluminium 4 and 2 × 2 = 4. Aluminium gains oxygen, so it is oxidised; MnO2 loses oxygen, so it is reduced. NCERT notes such reactions release so much heat that the metal comes out molten, as in the thermit reaction for joining railway tracks.
Worked example 2: choose the route
For each, decide the method from the band, then the steps.
Cinnabar, HgS. Mercury is low in the series. Heat in air: 2HgS + 3O2 → 2HgO + 2SO2, then 2HgO → 2Hg + O2.
Zinc carbonate. Middle metal, carbonate ore: calcination, then reduction with carbon.
Sodium chloride. Top of the series: electrolysis of the molten chloride. Sodium forms at the cathode (Na+ + e− → Na) and chlorine at the anode.
Aluminium oxide. Top band: electrolytic reduction, as NCERT states.
How does electrolytic refining work?
Reduced metals are not very pure. In electrolytic refining, the impure metal is the anode, a thin strip of pure metal is the cathode, and a solution of a salt of the metal is the electrolyte (acidified copper sulphate for copper). Pure metal dissolves from the anode and an equal amount deposits on the cathode. Soluble impurities stay in solution; insoluble ones settle below the anode as anode mud.
Which mistakes cost marks?
Swapping excess and limited air in roasting and calcination.
Trying to reduce sodium or aluminium oxide with carbon.
Making the impure metal the cathode in refining.
Leaving SO2 out of a roasting equation, which leaves sulphur unbalanced.
Saying the metal is oxidised during extraction. Getting a metal from its compound is reduction.
A practice routine
Write the activity series with the three bands and one method beside each.
Write all six NCERT equations from memory and check each atom by atom.
Make up three ores (a sulphide, a carbonate, a chloride) and write the full route for each.
Read our post on Metals and Non-metals for Class 10 to tie this section to the reactivity series and ionic bonds.
When a reaction stops making sense, the Fermi Concept Library covers every concept in chemistry with its own lesson, so you can revise oxidation and reduction before coming back to metallurgy.
This week, write the extraction route for zinc from both its ores in under five minutes.
