why is carbon monoxide used to reduce zinc oxide to zinc in the zinc extraction process and not carbon directly?

The chemical reaction involving the reduction of ZnO by CO is not feasible thermodynamically: This is because the standard free energy of formation ( ) of CO2 from CO is higher than that of the formation of ZnO from Zn. Thus, CO cannot be used to reduce ZnO to Zn.

oh it is true if thats what you are asking

"among the transition metal elements, manganese and zinc have a slight lowering of electronegativities. the reason behind this is that the nuclear charges of these elements are slightly weaker than the other transition metal elements due to the way their valence electrons are filled up. both manganese and zinc have their valence electrons filled up to the 4th shell with 1 pair of electrons (4s2) completely occupying it. although the electrons in the 3rd shell (3d) are yet to be paired since the outer most shell is filled up, the ability of the nucleus to attract electrons is lessened. hence,   the electronegativity (or the ability to attract electrons) is lessened."