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The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties.All elemental metals have a shiny appearance (at least when freshly polished); are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide.
Metals can be categorised by their composition, physical or chemical properties. Categories described in the subsections below include ferrous and non-ferrous metals; brittle metals and refractory metals ; white metals; heavy and light metals; base , noble , and precious metals as well as both metallic ceramics and polymers .
A material property is an intensive property of a material, i.e., a physical property or chemical property that does not depend on the amount of the material. These quantitative properties may be used as a metric by which the benefits of one material versus another can be compared, thereby aiding in materials selection.
Metals are insoluble in water or organic solvents, unless they undergo a reaction with them. Typically, this is an oxidation reaction that robs the metal atoms of their itinerant electrons, destroying the metallic bonding. However metals are often readily soluble in each other while retaining the metallic character of their bonding.
As quoted in an online version of: David R. Lide (ed), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 84th Edition.CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida, 2003; Section 4, Properties of the Elements and Inorganic Compounds; Physical Properties of the Rare Earth Metals
The physical properties of the refractory elements vary significantly because they are members of different groups of the periodic table. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] The hardness, high melting and boiling points, and high enthalpies of atomization of these metals arise from the partial occupation of the outer d subshell , allowing the d electrons to ...
Several terms are commonly used to characterize the general physical and chemical properties of the chemical elements. A first distinction is between metals , which readily conduct electricity , nonmetals , which do not, and a small group, (the metalloids ), having intermediate properties and often behaving as semiconductors .
As is typical for early transition metals, zirconium and hafnium have only the group oxidation state of +4 as a major one, and are quite electropositive and have a less rich coordination chemistry. Due to the effects of the lanthanide contraction, they are very similar in properties. Titanium is somewhat distinct due to its smaller size: it has ...