Metal

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In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds. Metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionisation and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po) separates the metals from the nonmetals. Elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals.

A more modern definition of metals is that they have overlapping conduction bands and valence bands in their electronic structure. This definition opens up the category for metallic polymers and other organic metals, which have been made by researchers and employed in high-tech devices. These synthetic materials often have the characteristic silvery-grey reflectiveness of elemental metals.

Nonmetal elements are more abundant in nature than are metallic elements, but metals in fact constitute most of the periodic table. Some well-known metals are aluminium, copper, gold, iron, lead, silver, titanium, uranium, and zinc.

The allotropes of metals tend to be lustrous, ductile, malleable, and good conductors, while nonmetals generally speaking are brittle (for solid nonmetals), lack luster, and are insulators.

The properties of conductivity are mainly because each atom exerts only a loose hold on its outermost electrons (valence electrons); thus, the valence electrons form a sort of sea around the close-packed metal nuclei cations.

Most metals are chemically unstable, reacting with oxygen in the air to form oxides over varying timescales (for example iron rusts over years and potassium burns in seconds). The alkali metals react quickest followed by the alkaline earth metals, found in the leftmost two groups of the periodic table. The transition metals take much longer to oxidise (such as iron, copper, zinc, nickel). Others, like palladium, platinum and gold, do not react with the atmosphere at all. Some metals form a barrier layer of oxide on their surface which cannot be penetrated by further oxygen molecules and thus retain their shiny appearance and good conductivity for many decades (like aluminium, some steels, and titanium). The oxides of metals are basic (as opposed to those of nonmetals, which are acidic).

Painting or anodising metals are good ways to prevent their corrosion.

Alloys

An alloy is a mixture of two or more elements in solid solution in which the major component is a metal. Most pure metals are either too soft, brittle or chemically reactive. Combining different ratios of metals as alloys modify the properties of pure metals to produce desirable characteristics. The aim of making alloys is to make them less brittle, harder, resistant to corrosion, or have a more desirable color and lustre. Examples of alloys are steel (iron and carbon), brass (copper and zinc), bronze (copper and tin), and duralumin (aluminium and copper). Alloys specially designed for highly demanding applications, such as jet engines, may contain more than ten elements.

Physical properties

Traditionally, metals have certain characteristic physical properties: they are usually shiny (they have "lustre"), have a high density, are ductile and malleable, usually have a high melting point, are usually hard, and conduct electricity and heat well. However this is mainly because the low density, soft, low melting point metals happen to be reactive, and we rarely encounter them in their elemental, metallic form. Metals conduct sound well, that is, they are sonorous.

Astronomy

In the specialised usage of astronomy and astrophysics, the term "metal" is often used to refer to any element other than hydrogen or helium, and includes substances as chemically non-metallic as neon, fluorine, and oxygen. Because the temperatures of stellar bodies allow practically no solid or liquid matter, and little normal chemistry can exist at temperatures that break down almost all chemical bonds, the term "metal" refers to materials that result from the triple-helium process which are much scarcer than hydrogen and helium in stars in the Main Sequence.

See metal-rich.

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Condensed matter physics | Metallic elements | Metals | Metalworking | Numismatics

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Alloys

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Astronomy

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