Metals conduct, bend without breaking and melt only at high temperatures, while most non-metals do the opposite. Metals also share a chemistry: they react with oxygen, water and acids in predictable ways.
Metals are good conductors of heat and electricity, malleable (can be hammered into shape) and ductile (can be drawn into wires), and usually have high melting and boiling points. Non-metals are generally poor conductors and brittle when solid. Metals react with dilute acids to give a salt and hydrogen, with cold water or steam to give a hydroxide or oxide and hydrogen, and with oxygen to give metal oxides.
Push the layers of ions in the simulator and watch them slide while the sea of electrons holds them together. Then switch on a voltage and see the electrons drift.
| Property | Metals | Non-metals (solid) |
|---|---|---|
| electrical conductivity | good | poor (graphite is an exception) |
| thermal conductivity | good | poor |
| malleable and ductile | yes | no, brittle |
| melting and boiling points | usually high | usually low |
| appearance | shiny when freshly cut | usually dull |
Four quick checks. Each correct answer earns XP and records this skill on your profile.
Which property explains why copper is used for electrical wires?
What does malleable mean?
What are the products when zinc reacts with dilute sulfuric acid?
Which is a typical property of a non-metal?
Metals share three general reactions. How vigorous each one is depends on the metal's position in the reactivity series.
With cold water a reactive metal forms a hydroxide; with steam a metal forms an oxide. Magnesium reacts only very slowly with cold water but burns in steam to give magnesium oxide.
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Magnesium is heated in steam. What are the products?
Element X is shiny, conducts electricity, and reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid to give a gas that pops with a lighted splint. X is:
Which equation is correct for the reaction of calcium with cold water?
Why are metals good conductors of heat?
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