Sodium cyanide

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/sodium-cyanide

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How heavy is Sodium cyanide?49.007 g/mol
2. What is the chemical formula?NaCN
3. What is the primary industrial use?Hydrometallurgical extraction of gold and silver
4. Why is sodium cyanide used to get gold from ore?It makes gold dissolve by forming a special gold‑cyanide complex. This lets workers separate the gold from the rock.
5. How does sodium cyanide get made?People first made it in the early 1800s. Later, better ways were invented for making it in factories.

Hydrometallurgy: A branch of metallurgy that uses aqueous chemistry to recover metals from ores.
Ligand: An ion or molecule that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex.
Coordination Complex: A central metal atom or ion bonded to a surrounding array of molecules or ions (ligands).
Lewis Base: A chemical species that donates an electron pair to an acid.