metal properties

METAL PROPERTIES

A material that is useful in many areas of our daily life are metals. The properties of the metal depends on the type of bonds that create atoms together. The properties of metals can be categorized in four groups: mechanicals, chemicals, physicals and electricals. The first type of properties, mechanicals, include their capacity for plastic deformation. Forces larger than the elastic limit, or heat, may cause a permanent deformation of the metal object. Also the nature of metallic bonding is thought to contribute significantly to the ductility of most metallic solids. The second type of properties, chemicals, include the surfactant of atoms of each metal to react and form ties with atoms of an other metal or nonmetal. Very characteristic property of metals is to rust because they often create bonds with water's molecules. The next type of their properties, physicals, allows metals to be malleable, ductile and they deform under stress without cleaving. That is because metals have higher densities. Finally, the last type of metal properties, electricals, depends again on the structure and the electrons in the outer layer of each individual. That is why metals have high electrical conductivities. That, electrical conductivity of metals can be calculated from the free electron model which is a simple model for the behaviour of valence electrons in a crystal structure of a metallic solid. It was developed  by Arnold Sommerfeld. As we understand the four types of properties of a metal depends on the structure and basically of electrons present in the outer layer. So, if we want to change some of the metal's properties, we have to change its structure. 

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