Metals are all around us. There are so many objects made out of metals. We can find them in the kitchen, inside our chargers for our phones, and also most certainly used for cars; existing of many alloys mixed together. A metal is any element, compound, or alloy mostly in the solid state which is easily recognizable with some physical and chemical properties shown below. Some physical properties include that they are good conductors of electricity and have high thermal conductivity.
Metals consist of very closely and orderly packed atoms; they are joined together by metallic bonds. This basically means the bond between the positive ions and the electrons. The atoms lose their outer-shell electrons to form a sea of electrons. This explains how when electricity is passed through metals, the free electrons carry the charge back and forth. Similarly, heat is transferred by conduction when adjacent atoms vibrate against one another, or as electrons move from atom to atom [1].
Because metals are very good conductors of electricity, the metal copper is commonly used in wires to conduct electricity, though silver and gold can be used as well they are very expensive. How these metals are drawn into those wires is another property which is ductility. This characteristic can happen because the orderly packing in the atoms allows them to slide over each other. In addition, metals are malleable. This means they can be rolled out into sheets. An example is the aluminium foil found in our kitchen. For the conductivity of heat, we can often find the application in the kitchen.
Most of the cooking appliances such as the frying pan are made out of metal. Lastly, metals are shiny. This is because when light shines on the free electrons they vibrate and are visibly shining. Gold is very shiny as it is unreactive; hence it is often used in jewellery. On the other hand, metals also have chemical properties. Metals tend to form cations which are positive ions by losing electrons to non-metals. Some metals such as potassium and iron effectively react with oxygen to form its oxide.
