METAL
METAL
Metal is a solid material which is typically hard, shiny, malleable, fusible, and ductile, with good electrical and thermal conductivity (e.g. iron, gold, silver, and aluminium, and alloys such as steel)
Metals are shiny and lustrous, at least when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured. Sheets of metal thicker than a few micrometres appear opaque, but gold leaf transmits green light.
The solid or liquid state of metals largely originates in the capacity of the metal atoms involved to readily lose their outer shell electrons. Broadly, the forces holding an individual atom’s outer shell electrons in place are weaker than the attractive forces on the same electrons arising from interactions between the atoms in the solid or liquid metal.
The electrons involved become delocalised and the atomic structure of a metal can effectively be visualised as a collection of atoms embedded in a cloud of relatively mobile electrons. This type of interaction is called a metallic bond. The strength of metallic bonds for different elemental metals reaches a maximum around the center of the transition metal series, as these elements have large numbers of delocalized electron.
Metals are known for their ability to withstand extreme conditions. Heavy loads, nonstop cycling, high impact, caustic environments and even high temperatures.
A metal’s melting temperature, more scientifically known as the melting point, is the temperature that a metal begins to transform from a solid phase into a liquid phase.
At the melting temperature, the solid phase and liquid phase of a metal exist in equilibrium. Once this temperature is achieved, heat can be continuously added to the metal, however this will not raise the overall temperature.
Once the metal is completely in the liquid phase, additional heat will again continue to raise the temperature of the metal.
