Give reasons for the following:
$(i)$ Carbon can reduce zinc oxide to zinc but not calcium oxide to calcium.
$(ii)$ Copper and aluminium wires are usually used for electricity transmission.

(N/A) $(i)$ Carbon acts as a reducing agent. In the reactivity series,zinc is less reactive than carbon,so carbon can displace oxygen from zinc oxide to form zinc metal:
$ZnO(s) + C(s) \rightarrow Zn(s) + CO(g)$
However,calcium is much more reactive than carbon and has a very high affinity for oxygen. Therefore,carbon cannot reduce calcium oxide to calcium.
$(ii)$ Copper and aluminium are used for electricity transmission because they possess high electrical conductivity and low electrical resistance,which minimizes energy loss during transmission.