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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.
Nonmetals, including (to a limited extent) xenon and probably radon, usually exist as anions or oxyanions in aqueous solution; they generally form ionic or covalent compounds when combined with metals (unlike metals, which mostly form alloys with other metals); and have acidic oxides whereas the common oxides of nearly all metals are basic.
Nonmetals have relatively high values of electronegativity, and their oxides are usually acidic. Exceptions may occur if a nonmetal is not very electronegative, or if its oxidation state is low, or both. These non-acidic oxides of nonmetals may be amphoteric (like water, H 2 O [63]) or neutral (like nitrous oxide, N 2 O [64] [h]), but never basic.
The term nonmetal (chemistry) is also used for those elements which are not metallic in their normal ground state; compounds are sometimes excluded from consideration. Some textbooks use the term nonmetallic elements such as the Chemistry of the Non-Metals by Ralf Steudel , [ 25 ] : 4 which also uses the general definition in terms of ...
Although hydrogen bonding is a relatively weak attraction compared to the covalent bonds within the water molecule itself, it is responsible for several of the water's physical properties. These properties include its relatively high melting and boiling point temperatures: more energy is required to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules.
While use of germanium itself does not require precautions, some of germanium's artificially produced compounds are quite reactive and present an immediate hazard to human health on exposure. For example, Germanium tetrachloride and germane (GeH 4 ) are a liquid and gas, respectively, that can be very irritating to the eyes, skin, lungs, and ...
Oxygen constitutes 49.2% of the Earth's crust by mass [69] as part of oxide compounds such as silicon dioxide and is the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust. It is also the major component of the world's oceans (88.8% by mass). [19]
The oxide is toxic to humans. [11] oxygen: 8: 5: Ubiquitous, essential for all forms of life; essentially all biological molecules (not to mention water) contain substantial amounts of oxygen. [11] In high concentrations, oxygen toxicity can occur. palladium: 46: 2a: Has no known biological role. [11]