What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past CIE 0620 Chemistry papers and filtered to uses of metals. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
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What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on uses of metals, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Saying aluminium is used in aircraft because it does not corrode, when the mark is for low density.
- Saying aluminium is used in cans because it is light, when the mark is for corrosion resistance.
- Saying aluminium is unreactive, rather than that its oxide layer makes it appear unreactive.
- Giving copper for overhead cables because it conducts best, ignoring its density.
- Saying copper is used for wiring because it is malleable, when the word for making wire is ductile.
- Naming a use without naming the property, which is where the mark is.
- Placing aluminium below iron in the reactivity series because it corrodes less.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Uses of metals revision notes.