Metal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metals are hard, strong, shiny (lustrous) materials that are used for many different
things. Some metals are aluminium, copper, iron, steel, tin, gold, lead, silver, titanium,
uranium, and zinc.

The study of metals is called metallurgy.

Properties of metals
Most metals are hard, shiny, they feel heavy (dense) and they melt only when they are
very hot. Lumps of metal will make a bell-like sound when they are hit with something
heavy (they are sonorous). Heat and electricity can easily pass through a metal (it is
conductive). A lump of metal can be beaten into a thin sheet (it is malleable) or can be
pulled into thin wires (it is ductile). Metal has a high tensile strength or a high
compressive strength. Metals are elastic.

Not all metals have these properties. Lead, for instance, is very soft, and heat and
electricity do not pass through iron as well as they do through copper.

Use of metals

A bridge in Russia made of metal, probably iron or steel.

Metals are very useful to people. They are used to make tools because they can be
strong and easy to shape. Iron and steel have been used to make bridges, buildings, or
ships.

Some metals are used to make items like coins because they are hard and will not wear
away quickly.

Some metals, like steel, can be made sharp and stay sharp, so they can be used to make
knives, axes or razors.

Rare metals with high value, like gold, silver and platinum are often used to make
jewelery. Metals are also used to make fasteners and screws. Pots used for cooking can
be made from copper, aluminum, steel or iron. Lead is very heavy and dense and can be
used as ballast in boats to stop them from turning over, or to protect people from
ionizing radiation.

[change] Alloys of metals

Many things that are made of metals may, in fact, be made of mixtures of at least one
metal with either other metals, or with non-metals. These mixtures are called alloys.
Some common alloys are:

• Steel (iron and carbon) (Carbon is a non-metal)

• Brass (copper and zinc)
• Bronze (copper and tin)
• Duralumin (aluminium and copper)
• Gunmetal (copper, tin, and zinc)

People first began making things from metal over 6000 years ago, when they discovered
how to get copper from its ore. They then learned how to make a harder alloy, bronze,
by adding tin to the copper. About 3000 years ago, they discovered iron. By adding
small amounts of carbon to iron, they found that they could make a particularly useful
alloy – steel.

[change] Metals in chemistry

In chemistry, metal is a word for a group of chemical elements that have certain
properties. It is easy for the atoms of a metal to lose an electron and become positive
ions, or cations. In this way, metals are not like the other two kinds of elements - the
nonmetals and the metalloids.

On the periodic table, we can draw a straight line from the element boron (symbol B) to
the element polonium (symbol Po). The elements that this line passes through are the
metalloids. The elements that are above and to the right of this line are the nonmetals.
The rest of the elements are the metals.

Most of the properties of metals are because the atoms in the metal do not hold onto
their electrons very tightly. Each atom is separated from the others by a thin layer of
valence electrons. However, some metals are different. An example is the metal sodium.
It is soft, melts at a low temperature, and is so light, it floats on water. People should not
try this though, because another property of sodium is that it explodes when it touches
water.

Most metals are chemically stable, and do not react easily. (Some of the metals do react.
These are the alkali metals like sodium (symbol Na) and the alkaline earth metals like
calcium (symbol Ca).) When metals do react, they often react with oxygen. The oxides
of metals are basic. The oxides of nonmetals are acidic. However, most of the elements
on the periodic table are metals.

Compounds, which have metal atoms combined with other atoms to make molecules,
are probably the most common things on the Earth. For example, common salt is a
compound of sodium.
[change] Metals in history

A lump of pure copper found as native copper

The use of metals is said to be the thing that makes people different from animals.
Before they used metals, people made tools from stones, wood, and animal bones. This
is now called the Stone Age.

No-one knows when the first metal was found and used. It was probably what is called
native copper, which is sometimes found in large lumps on the ground. People learned
to make this into copper tools and other things, although, for a metal, it is quite soft.
When it was melted over fire, people learned how to make an alloy called bronze, which
is much harder and stronger than copper. People made knives and weapons from
bronze. This time in human history, after about 3300 BC is often called the Bronze Age,
that is, the time of bronze tools and weapons.

Around the year 1200 BC some people learned to make iron tools and weapons. These
were even harder and stronger than bronze and this was an advantage in war. The time
of iron tools and weapons is now called the Iron Age . Metals have been very important
in human history and civilization. Iron and steel were important in the making of
machines. Gold and silver were used as money in order to allow people to trade, that is,
exchange goods and services over long distances.

Many people thought that finding metals was a way to get rich. There have been many
times when gold was found and people moved quickly in large numbers to those places
for example, Central and South America after the year 1500, and many places after the
year 1800 (the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa). These are often called Gold Rushes.

[change] Metals in astronomy

In astronomy, a metal is any element other than hydrogen or helium. This is because
these two elements (and sometimes lithium) are the only ones that form outside stars. In
the sky, a telescope can see the signs of metals and then the astronomer knows that there
are stars.