10 Interesting Facts About Metals

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• What is Metal?
Metals are dull and non-transparent elements which are very good conductors of electricity and heat. Metals covers about 24 percent of the planet’s mass and accounts for almost two-thirds of all the elements. They are globally used nowadays because of their useful properties of strength, ductility, thermal and electrical conductivity, toughness, and its high melting point.

• Metals Everywhere
Metals can be found everywhere and in everyone’s homes. Metals are used in transportation forming the bodies and engines of cars, planes, trains, and ships. They can be also seen at our farming mechanisms such as tractors and combines. At the kitchen, microwaves, refrigerators, ovens and freezers are all part metals. Even in our TVs, radios, and calculators, metals are present. Also in construction, a building would never be complete without nails, which are made of metal.

• Malleable and Ductile
Malleability is the ability of metals to be hammered into thin sheets; an example of metal malleability is an aluminum foil. Also, Ductility is a metal’s another property wherein it can be drawn into wires; an example of metal ductility is a copper wire. These properties of metals allow it to be shaped or molded without breaking its structure.

• Conductor
A metal is a very good conductor of both heat and electricity. In a conductor, there’s no energy gap which allows energy (heat/electricity) to travel freely into the material. Copper is the most common electric conductor, thus making copper wire very relevant nowadays. Also, the human body can be a good conductor of electricity.

• Alkaline Earth Metals
Alkaline earth metals are found in Group 2 of the periodic table. These metals are composed of Beryllium (Be), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), and Radium (Rd). The Group 2 has soft and silvery metals which are less metallic than those found in the Group 1 elements of periodic table.

• Alkali Metals
Alkali Metals can be found at the Group 1 of the periodic table. These metals include Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Rubidium (Rb), and Cesium (Cs). Although listed in the Group 1 of the periodic table, Hydrogen is not one of the Alkali Metals. The word alkali came from the Arabic word “al qali” that means “from ashes”. These elements have different colors when burned.

• Shaped Memory Alloys
Shaped Memory Alloys are metals which are able to remember and return to their original or previous shapes. Nitinol is the name given to the family of Nickel-titanium alloys which are the most useful of all shaped memory alloys. William J. Buehler, a researcher at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland was the first to discover the shaped memory alloys.

• Annealing Process
Annealing, the process where in metals are taken into high temperature, molded, and then cooled. After the heating process, the molten metal will now be molded into the desired shaped and then cooled slowly allowing it to harden without any complication such as dents, cracks, and malformation.

• Two or More Metals

Alloy is a substance formed by two or more metals. Alloys have less ability when it comes to conducting heat and electricity than pure metals. Steel is the most common alloy; it is generally made of 0.5 percent of manganese, 0.8 percent of carbon, and the remaining percentage is iron.

• The Study of Metals
Metallurgy is the science or study of metals and their physical and chemical properties. Metallurgy includes the extraction of metals from ores found in mountains or caves and also the study of the relationship between the structures and properties of metals.

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