What are Metals?

Metals are known to be natural compounds of the earth’s crust generally found in the form of iron ores. They are present in rocks washed by surface water and groundwater and in atmospheric dust.

They are substances that form naturally below the surface of the earth. Also, they are lustrous or shiny and are called inorganic because they are made of substances that were never alive. Well, in this reading, we’ll explore what metals are, their properties, classifications, and the periodic elements of metals.

Let’s get started!

Metal is any group of substances with strong thermal and electrical conductivity, malleability, ductility, and high-light reflection. Metals make up about 75 percent of all chemical elements that are currently understood. Aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are the elements that are most prevalent in the crust of the Earth.

Most metals are found in ores (materials that contain minerals), although some, like copper, gold, platinum, and silver, often turn up in the free state because they do not easily react with other elements.

Usually, metals are crystalline solids. They typically have a simple crystal structure that is characterized by strong atom packing and a high level of symmetry. Metal atoms often have fewer than half of their total number of electrons in their outermost shell. This property makes metals less likely to combine to form compounds.

However, nonmetals (such as oxygen and sulfur), which typically contain more than half the maximum amount of valence electrons, communicate with them more easily. The chemical reactivity of different metals varies greatly. Lithium, potassium, and radium are among the most reactive; gold, silver, palladium, and platinum are among the least reactive.

The free-electron theory offers the best reason for the high electrical and thermal conductivities of the simple metals (i.e., the non-transition metals of the periodic table).

According to this theory, the individual atoms in these metals have lost their valence electrons to the solid as a whole. The free electrons that result from this loss are what cause conductivity, and they move as a group inside the solid.

The band theory, which considers both the presence of free electrons and their interaction with so-called d electrons, is a better explanation for conductivities in the case of the more complex metals (i.e., the transition elements).

It is common to attribute the mechanical properties of metals, such as hardness, durability under repeated stress (fatigue strength), ductility, and malleability, to flaws or faults in their crystal structure.

For instance, a metal can deform plastically and avoid being brittle since there isn’t an atom layer in its densely packed structure.

What are the Properties of Metals?

The properties of metals include mechanical, physical and chemical properties.

Mechanical Properties

The ability of a material to stand up to various external forces, such as shear stresses, loads, environmental factors, and time, is known as its mechanical property.

The metal’s durability against shearing, stretching, twisting, compression as well, or breaking under a specific set of situations can be measured by mechanical engineers.

Once identified, these mechanical properties can be used to judge a material’s fitness for a certain activity as well as its capacity to handle abrupt loads and pressures. The most frequent tests used to ascertain a metal’s features are listed below.

Physical Properties

With the exception of mercury, which is liquid at room temperature (Gallium is liquid on hot days), all metals are solid at room temperature.

Metals are good conductor of heat and electricity, which is why most cooking utensils are made up of iron and iron are made up of metals. Also, metals are ductile in nature and this is their ability for them to be stretched into wire.

With the durability of drawn wires, they are used to make crains, cable wires and soldering applications. With this, metals are said to be ductile. Furthermore, metals are malleable, which allows them to be beaten into flat sheets. Most common of them is aluminum sheets.

Aluminum sheets are used in the manufacturing of aircrafts because of their lightweight and strength. They are also used in automobile industries for making car body parts. Well, this is because of the malleability in metals.

Metals are said to be sonorous due to their production of a deep ringing sound when struck with other solid object. Also, metal’s physical properties can be seen in their shiny appearance, although they can be polished to have shiny appearance.

Chemical Properties

One of the common chemical property of metal is that they react with water. Although not all kinds of metals do react, but the highly reactive ones like sodium can react with water and oxygen. During the process, sodium will release large amount of heat.

Metals can also react with acid to produce hydrogen gas. Zinc reacts with hydrochloric acid to produces zinc chloride and hydrogen gas. Also, metals can react with bases to produce metal salts and hydrogen gas.

For instance, when zinc react with strong hydroxide they offer sodium zincate and hydrogen gas.

Finally, metals can react with oxygen to produce metal oxide, that is, when burned together. These metal oxides are basic in nature. For instance, magnesium strip burned in the presence of oxygen forms magnesium oxide. Also, when magnesium oxide dissolves in water it forms magnesium hydroxide.

Classifications of Metals

Metals can be classified according to the following:

Iron content
Atomic structure
Magnetic and non-magnetic metals

Classification by Iron Content

Iron content is the common way of classifying metals. Metals that contain iron are known as ferrous metals. The iron type imparts magnetic properties to the material and also makes them prone to corrosion when exposed to moisture.

On the other hand, metals that do not have any iron content in them are known as non-ferrous metals. They do not have any magnetic properties. Examples of non-ferrous metals include aluminum, lead, brass, copper, and zinc.

Classification of Metals According to Their Atomic Structure

Metals may also be classified based on their atomic structure stated in the periodic table. They may be known as alkaline, alkaline earth, or transition metals belonging to the same group that behaves similarly when reacting with other elements. That is to say, they have similar chemical properties.

The alkali metals are in group IA on the far left side of the periodic table. They are known to be highly reactive element and distinctive because of their +1 oxidation state and they have low density compared to other metals. Because of their reactiveness, they are element found in most compounds.

The alkaline earth metals are found in group IIA of the periodic table, located at the second column of the table. They have +2 oxidation state and like the alkali metals, they are found in compounds rather than pure form.

Alkaline earth metals are also reactive but not as that of alkali metals. The group IIA metals are hard and shiny and usually malleable and ductile.

Lastly, basic metals are use to associate the term metal as they conduct heat and electricity. They have a metallic luster, and tend to be dense, malleable, and ductile. Although some of these metals behave as non-metallic, allotrope of tin for instance act more as a nonmetal.

Lead and gallium are examples of element that soft as they have lower melting and boiling points that other metal type.

Classification According to Magnetic and Non-Magnetic Metals

Another best way of differentiating metals is by checking how they react to magnets. In fact, it’s highly possible to different metal types as magnetic and non-magnetic, since ferromagnetic metals attract well and strongly to magnets. On the other hand, paramagnetic ones show weak interactions with magnets. Lastly, there is a group of metals that shows weak repulsion to magnets.

Now let’s dive into popular types of metals and their properties.

Metals available out there share some similar mechanical properties, but when closely look, one must have a slightly different one from the other. there are possible ways of tweaking the properties of metals to get the desired property.

There are things to be considered when selecting metal for a particular application. These factors may include:

Melting point
Cost, ease of machining
Space available
Sufficient safety factor
Temperature coefficient
Density, and
Thermal and electrical conductivity.

Metals in the Periodic Table

Most elements on the periodic table are metals as they are group according to their types. Metals are labelled blue, non-metals yellow, or metalloid (red).

The metal element are grouped together on the left hand side of the periodic table. Hydrogen which is the only nonmetal grouped among the metals in the top left corner. This is because some scientists discover that there could be metallic hydrogen in the core of the planet jupiter.

Metals are remarkably useful base on how the metal atoms bond with each other, known as metallic bonding. This metallic bonding is how metal atoms interact on the atomic level and how they connect to make larger metal structures.

Metal atoms share their outermost electrons evenly with each other which is known as sea of electrons. The electron flowing between the positively charged ions transmit heat and electricity with ease. This makes metals good conductor of heat and electricity.

The reactivity of metals is the tendency of metals to react with chemicals in its surroundings. Metal reactivity can vary greatly as those in columns 1 and 2 on the periodic table react easily with many other chemicals. Although, they are rarely found in their pure, elemental form.

Different Types of Metals in the Periodic Table

The table below shows the different element of metal in the periodic table explaining their atomic number, symbol, and metal elements.

S.No	Atomic Number	Symbol	Metal Elements
1	3	Li	Lithium
2	4	Be	Beryllium
3	11	Na	Sodium
4	12	Mg	Magnesium
5	13	Al	Aluminium
6	19	K	Potassium
7	20	Ca	Calcium
8	21	Sc	Scandium
9	22	Ti	Titanium
10	23	V	Vanadium
11	24	Cr	Chromium
12	25	Mn	Manganese
13	26	Fe	Iron
14	27	Co	Cobalt
15	28	Ni	Nickel
16	29	Cu	Copper
17	30	Zn	Zinc
18	31	Ga	Gallium
19	37	Rb	Rubidium
20	38	Sr	Strontium
21	39	Y	Yttrium
22	40	Zr	Zirconium
23	41	Nb	Niobium
24	42	Mo	Molybdenum
25	43	Tc	Technetium
26	44	Ru	Ruthenium
27	45	Rh	Rhodium
28	46	Pd	Palladium
29	47	Ag	Silver
30	48	Cd	Cadmium
31	49	In	Indium
32	50	Sn	Tin
33	55	Cs	Cesium
34	56	Ba	Barium
35	57	La	Lanthanum
36	58	Ce	Cerium
37	59	Pr	Praseodymium
38	60	Nd	Neodymium
39	61	Pm	Promethium
40	62	Sm	Samarium
41	63	Eu	Europium
42	64	Gd	Gadolinium
43	65	Tb	Terbium
44	66	Dy	Dysprosium
45	67	Ho	Holmium
46	68	Er	Erbium
47	69	Tm	Thulium
48	70	Yb	Ytterbium
49	71	Lu	Lutetium
50	72	Hf	Hafnium
51	73	Ta	Tantalum
52	74	W	Tungsten
53	75	Re	Rhenium
54	76	Os	Osmium
55	77	Ir	Iridium
56	78	Pt	Platinum
57	79	Au	Gold
58	80	Hg	Mercury
59	81	Tl	Thallium
60	82	Pb	Lead
61	83	Bi	Bismuth
62	84	Po	Polonium
63	87	Fr	Francium
64	88	Ra	Radium
65	89	Ac	Actinium
66	90	Th	Thorium
67	91	Pa	Protactinium
68	92	U	Uranium
69	93	Np	Neptunium
70	94	Pu	Plutonium
71	95	Am	Americium
72	96	Cm	Curium
73	97	Bk	Berkelium
74	98	Cf	Californium
75	99	Es	Einsteinium
76	100	Fm	Fermium
77	101	Md	Mendelevium
78	102	No	Nobelium
79	103	Lr	Lawrencium
80	104	Rf	Rutherfordium
81	105	Db	Dubnium
82	106	Sg	Seaborgium
83	107	Bh	Bohrium
84	108	Hs	Hassium
85	109	Mt	Meitnerium
86	110	Ds	Darmstadtium
87	111	Rg	Roentgenium
88	112	Cn	Copernicium
89	113	Nh	Nihonium
90	114	Fl	Flerovium
91	115	Mc	Moscovium
92	116	Lv	Livermorium

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What are Metals? – Thier Properties and Classification