What Are the Properties of Metals?

Metal is a substance that has luster (that is, strong reflection of visible light), is malleable, and is easily conductive and thermally conductive. Most metal elements on the earth exist in nature in a combined state. This is because the chemical properties of most metals are relatively active, and only a few metals such as gold and silver exist in a free state. Metals exist widely in nature and are extremely common in daily life. They are a very important and most widely used substance in modern industry.

Since the electrons of the metal tend to detach, it has a good

except

Non-ferrous metals in the narrow sense are also called non-ferrous metals, and are a collective name for all metals except iron, manganese and chromium. Non-ferrous metals in a broad sense also include non-ferrous alloys. Non-ferrous alloy is an alloy composed of a non-ferrous metal (usually greater than 50%) and adding one or several other elements.

A substance composed of two or more chemical elements, and at least one of which is a metal element and having metallic characteristics, is called an alloy. An alloy composed of two elements is collectively referred to as a "binary alloy", and an alloy composed of three or more elements is commonly referred to as a "multicomponent alloy". The structure and properties of the alloy depend on the nature of the interactions between the components that make up the alloy.

Metals are divided into active metals and passive metals. According to the order of metal activity, the metal before hydrogen is called the active metal, and the metal after hydrogen is the passive metal.

Potassium calcium sodium magnesium aluminum zinc iron tin lead (hydrogen) copper mercury silver platinum

Metal element is the main body of chemical element and the main material resource of people's production and life.

Tungsten (W) Among various metal elements, tungsten is the most difficult to melt and the most difficult to volatilize. Tungsten is mainly used in the manufacture of alloy steel; pure tungsten is mainly used in the manufacture of tungsten wires in lamps and can also be used in electronic and optical instruments.

Chromium (Cr) Chromium is a silver-white metal with extremely high hardness and corrosion resistance. It is used for electroplating and manufacturing special steels. This century, when people devoted themselves to studying the hard nature of chromium, they unintentionally discovered its corrosion resistance, which gave birth to stainless steel. At present, stainless steel and chrome-plated products have been widely used in medical equipment, drinking utensils, tableware and other fields.

Manganese (Mn) Pure manganese is strong and brittle and difficult to apply in production and life, but manganese alloys have a wide range of uses. Manganese steel is both hard and tough, making it an ideal material for rails, bearings and armor plates.

Lithium (Li) Lithium is the lightest metal element with the highest specific heat. Lithium is not only used to make ultra-light alloys and lithium batteries, but also an important material for cutting-edge technology. Lithium alloys can greatly reduce weight and reduce energy consumption in the aerospace industry, and play an important role in the atomic energy industry. In the metallurgical industry, lithium is often used as a deoxidizer and deaerator to eliminate voids and bubbles in metal castings.

Titanium (Ti) The specific strength (ratio of strength to specific gravity) of titanium is the highest among all metallic elements. Titanium and titanium-based alloys are new structural materials that are hard and light. They are mainly used in the manufacture of aircraft, submarines, corrosion-resistant chemical equipment and various mechanical parts. Titanium alloy can maintain high strength in the temperature range of -253 500 ° C, which is an ideal aerospace material. In steelmaking, a small amount of titanium is still a good deoxidizing, nitrogen removing and desulfurizing agent. ^[3]

The highest metallic element in the earth's crust: aluminum (7.73%)

The most abundant metal element in the human body: calcium (1.5%)

The world's highest annual metal output: iron

Least dense metal: hydrogen (in January 2016, British scientists made metallic hydrogen for the first time at the University of Edinburgh, and hydrogen became the least dense metal)

Metal with the highest density: (22.48 × 10³ / m³)

Hardest metal: Chromium (Mohs hardness is about 9)

Softest metal: Cesium (Mohs hardness about 0.5)

The most conductive metal: silver

The most thermally conductive metal: silver

The most important metal for new high-speed aircraft: titanium (known by scientists as "the metal of the twenty-first century" or "steel of the future")

The largest radioactive element in seawater: uranium (the total reserves of terrestrial uranium ore is about 2 million tons, and the total amount of uranium in the ocean is up to 400,000 tons)

Contains the most isotopic element: tin (there are 10 stable isotopes)

Contains the least isotope element: sodium (only Na-23 stable)

The most malleable metal: gold (the thinnest gold thickness is only 1 / 10000mm)

The most ductile metal: platinum (the finest platinum wire diameter is only 1 / 5000mm)

Highest melting point metal: tungsten (melting point: 3410 ± 20 ° C)

Lowest melting metal: Mercury (melting point -38.8 ° C)

The element with the largest difference in melting point is gallium (melting point 30 ° C, boiling point 2403 ° C)

The smallest metal in the earth's crust is thorium (even in the highest content ore, there are only 37 × 10 minus 13 cubic grams per ton; the content in the crust is about 1 × 10 ^ -21%)

The metal element most likely to generate electric current under light: cesium (when its surface is illuminated by light, electrons can get energy to escape from the surface and generate photocurrent)

The strongest metal: cesium

The most expensive metal in the world: Rhenium ($ 10 million per gram, more than 500,000 times more expensive than gold)

The cheapest metal in the world: iron

The easiest superconducting element to use: Niobium (When it is cooled to an ultra-low temperature of -263.9 ° C, it will become a superconductor with almost no resistance)

The most metallic element that can absorb gas: Palladium (1 volume of colloidal palladium can absorb 1,200 volumes of hydrogen)