What do metals tend to have

Some transition metals occur in pure or native form, including gold, copper, and silver. The lanthanides and actinides are found only in compounds in nature. In general, metals are located on the left-hand side of the periodic table, decreasing in metallic character moving up and to the right. Depending on conditions, elements belonging to the metalloid group may behave like metals.

In addition, even nonmetals may be metals. For example, in certain situations, you may find metallic oxygen or metallic carbon.

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The table summarises some typical properties of metals and non-metals. Most metals have high melting points and are therefore in the solid state at room temperature. Most non-metals have low melting points are not in the solid state at room temperature. Some elements have properties that are not typical. For example:. A substance with a high density means it has a high mass for its volume. Malleable substances can be bent or hammered into shape without shattering, whereas brittle substances shatter when bent or hit.

One characteristic of the transition metals is their ability to form more than one cation. Describe a general relationship between trends in metallic character and trends in ionization energy. The red stepped line divides metals from nonmetals. How are common oxidation states divided by this line? Compounds made up of a metal and a nonmetal tend to be ionic substances. For example, most metal oxides and halides are ionic solids.

The oxides are particularly important because of the great abundance of oxygen in our environment. Most metal oxides are basic. Those that dissolve in water react to form metal hydroxides, as in the following examples:. Even metal oxides that are insoluble in water demonstrate their basicity by reacting with acids to form a salt plus water, as illustrated in FIGURE 7. Analyze and Plan We are asked about one physical property of scandium oxide—its state at room temperature—and one chemical property—how it reacts with nitric acid.

Consequently, the formula of scandium oxide is Sc 2 O 3. Metal oxides tend to be basic and, therefore, to react with acids to form a salt plus water.

In this case the salt is scandium nitrate, Sc NO 3 3 :. Write the balanced chemical equation for the reaction between copper II oxide and sulfuric acid. Nonmetals can be solid, liquid, or gas. They are not lustrous and generally are poor conductors of heat and electricity. Under ordinary conditions, seven nonmetals exist as diatomic molecules. Excluding the noble gases, the remaining nonmetals are solids that can be either hard, such as diamond, or soft, such as sulfur FIGURE 7.

Because of their relatively large, negative electron affinities, nonmetals tend to gain electrons when they react with metals. For example, the reaction of aluminum with bromine produces the ionic compound aluminum bromide:. A nonmetal typically will gain enough electrons to fill its outermost occupied p subshell, giving a noble-gas electron configuration.