Metals are lustrous conductors, nonmetals are poor conductors, and metalloids show intermediate properties.
Practise Atomic Structure & Periodicity All Atomic Structure & Periodicity topics
Metals are lustrous, malleable and good conductors of heat and electricity, because they lose valence electrons easily. Nonmetals gain or share electrons, are often gases or brittle solids, and are poor conductors. Metalloids, such as boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony and tellurium, have intermediate properties and are typically semiconductors. A diagonal staircase on the periodic table separates metals from nonmetals, and the metalloids lie along that boundary. The classification is a useful generalisation rather than a strict rule.
Key ideas: Metals (about 80 percent of the elements) are lustrous, malleable, ductile and good conductors, forming cations and basic oxides. Nonmetals are poor conductors, brittle as solids, and form anions and acidic oxides. Metalloids (B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te) lie along the stair-step line and are semiconductors, whose conductivity rises with temperature.
Common mistakes and connections: Students think hydrogen is a metal because of its position, or that metalloids are just poor metals. Another error is that conductivity of metals rises on heating; it decreases, opposite to semiconductors. Graphite is a nonmetal that conducts, an exception. The classification connects to bonding type: metallic, covalent, ionic.
Most elements are metals; only about 17 are nonmetals and 7 are metalloids lying along the staircase between them. The interactive lesson shows this as a live animation or chart.
Silicon's moderate electrical conductivity, which can be controlled by doping, makes it the key material for computer chips.
Metals are lustrous conductors, nonmetals are poor conductors, and metalloids show intermediate properties.
Metals Nonmetals and Metalloids is a beginner topic in Atomic Structure & Periodicity. It needs no earlier chemistry lessons and is a good starting point.
Study these earlier topics in Atomic Structure & Periodicity first: p-Block Elements, d-Block Elements, f-Block Elements.
The next topics in Atomic Structure & Periodicity are Atomic Radius and Ionic Radius.
Yes. The interactive lesson includes a self-check question on Metals Nonmetals and Metalloids, and the Atomic Structure & Periodicity quiz draws on every topic in this area.
Metals Nonmetals and Metalloids is topic 82 of 115 in Atomic Structure & Periodicity.