Physical State: Metals are solids at room temperature with the exception of mercury and gallium, which are liquids at room temperature. Lustre: Metals have the quality of reflecting light from its surface and can be polished e.g., gold, silver and copper. Malleability: Metals have the ability to withstand hammering and can be made into thin sheets known as foils. Ductility: Metals can be drawn into wires. 100 gm of silver can be drawn into a thin wire about 200 meters long. Hardness: All metals are hard except sodium and potassium, which are soft and can be cut with a knife. Valency: Metals have 1 to 3 electrons in the outermost shell of their atoms. Conduction: Metals are good conductors because they have free electrons. Silver and copper are the two best conductors of heat and electricity. Lead is the poorest conductor of heat. Bismuth, mercury and iron are also poor conductors. Density: Metals have high density and are very heavy. Iridium and osmium have the highest densities where as lithium has the lowest density. Melting and Boiling point: Metals have high melting and boiling point. Tungsten has the highest melting point where as silver has low boiling point. Sodium and potassium have low melting points. Electropositive Character: Metals are elements that have a tendency to lose electrons and form cations. They normally do not accept electrons. To summarize: metals are electropositive in nature, lustrous, malleable, ductile, good conductors of heat and electricity and generally form basic or amphoteric oxides with oxygen. Physical Properties of Non-metals Back to Top Below are the properties of non metals: Physical state: Most of the non-metals exist in two of the three states of matter at room temperature: gases (oxygen) and solids (carbon). These have no metallic lustre, and do not reflect light. Nature: Non-metals are very brittle, and cannot be rolled into wires or pounded into sheets. Conduction: They are poor conductors of heat and electricity. Electronegative Character: Non-metals have a tendency to gain or share electrons with other atoms. They are electronegative in character. Reactivity: They generally form acidic or neutral oxides with oxygen.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:30:22 +0000
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