Part II: METALS

RHONA C. ADAJAR
OCCURENCE OF METALS
Approximately three-quarters of the known elements are
metals and conduct both heat and electricity very
well. Moreover, they have shiny surfaces; they are
capable of being shaped by hammering (malleable) and
also of being drawn into wires (ductile).

These properties can be understood in terms of

metallic bonding in which valence electrons are
delocalized over an entire metallic crystal. The
strength of metallic bonding varies roughly as the
number of electrons available in this sea.
 Metallic Bonding

● Metallic bond, force that holds

atoms together in a metallic
substance. Such a solid consists
of closely packed atoms.
● A metallic bond is a type of
chemical bond formed between
positively charged atoms in which
the free electrons are shared
among a lattice of cations.
Metallic Bonding
● A delocalized electron is an
electron in an atom, ion, or
molecule not associated with any
single atom or a single covalent
bond.
● Delocalized electrons are also
commonly seen in solid metals,
where they form a "sea" of
electrons that are free to move
throughout the material. This is
why metals are typically
excellent electrical conductors.
Metallic Bonding
● Metallic bonds result from the
electrostatic attraction between
metal cations and delocalized
electrons. The nature of metallic
bonding accounts for many of the
physical properties of metals,
such as conductivity and
malleability.
Defects in Metals

● Real crystals (Metallic crystals) contain

large numbers of defects (typically more
than 104 per milligram), ranging from
variable amounts of impurities to missing
or misplaced atoms or ions.

● A point defect is any defect that involves

only a single particle (a lattice point)
or sometimes a very small set of points.
● A line defect is restricted to a row of
lattice points, and a plane defect
involves an entire plane of lattice points
in a crystal.
● A vacancy occurs where an atom is missing
from the normal crystalline array; it
constitutes a tiny void in the middle of a
solid.
Defects in Metals

These defects occur for three main reasons:

1. It is impossible to obtain any substance in 100% pure form. Some impurities are always
present.

2. Even if a substance were 100% pure, forming a perfect crystal would require cooling
the liquid phase infinitely slowly to allow all atoms, ions, or molecules to find their
proper positions. Cooling at more realistic rates usually results in one or more
components being trapped in the “wrong” place in a lattice or in areas where two lattices
that grew separately intersect.

3. Applying an external stress to a crystal, such as a hammer blow, can cause microscopic
regions of the lattice to move with respect to the rest, thus resulting in imperfect
alignment.
Summary on Defects

Three main types of defects in metals and their effects on material

properties:

● point defects- vacancies, interstitials, and impurity atoms

● line defects- fundamental of edge, screw and mixed dislocations

● planar defects-grain boundaries, phase boundaries, twinning and

stacking faults
OCCURENCE OF METALS

Mineral deposits are naturally occurring

accumulations or concentrations of metals or
minerals of sufficient size and concentration
that might, under favorable circumstances,
have economic value.

Economic concentrations of metals or other

mineral commodities are known as ore.
PERIODIC TABLE
METALS

With the exception of hydrogen, all elements that form

positive ions by losing electrons during chemical reactions
are called metals. Thus metals are electropositive elements
with relatively low ionization energies.

They are characterized by bright luster, hardness, ability to

resonate sound and are excellent conductors of heat and
electricity.

Metals are solids under normal conditions except for

Mercury.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS

Metals are lustrous, malleable, ductile, good conductors of heat and electricity. Other properties include:

● State: Metals are solids at room temperature with the exception of mercury, which is liquid at room
temperature (Gallium is liquid on hot days).
● Luster: Metals have the quality of reflecting light from their surface and can be polished e.g., gold,
silver and copper.
● Malleability: Metals have the ability to withstand hammering and can be made into thin sheets
known as foils. For example, a sugar cube sized chunk of gold can be pounded into a thin sheet that
will cover a football field.
● Ductility: Metals can be drawn into wires. For example, 100 g of silver can be drawn into a thin wire
about 200 meters long.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS

● Hardness: All metals are hard except sodium and potassium, which are soft and can be cut with a
knife.
● Valency: Metals typically have 1 to 3 electrons in the outermost shell of their atoms.
● Conduction: Metals are good conductors because they have free electrons. Silver and copper are the
two best conductors of heat and electricity. Lead is the poorest conductor of heat. Bismuth, mercury
and iron are also poor conductors
● Density: Metals have high density and are very heavy. Iridium and osmium have the highest densities
whereas lithium has the lowest density.
● Melting and Boiling Points: Metals have high melting and boiling points. Tungsten has the highest
melting and boiling points whereas mercury has the lowest. Sodium and potassium also have low
melting points.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS

Metals are electropositive elements that generally form basic or amphoteric oxides with oxygen. Other
chemical properties include:

● Electropositive Character: Metals tend to have low ionization energies, and typically lose electrons (i.e.
are oxidized) when they undergo chemical reactions They normally do not accept electrons. For
example:
○ Alkali metals are always 1+ (lose the electron in s subshell)
○ Alkaline earth metals are always 2+ (lose both electrons in s subshell)
○ Transition metal ions do not follow an obvious pattern, 2+ is common (lose both electrons in s
subshell), and 1+ and 3+ are also observed
METALLURGIC PROCESSES

The science and technology of separating metals from their ores and of
compounding alloys is called metallurgical process.

An alloy is a solid solution either of two or more metals,or of a metal

or metals with one or more nonmetals.

The three principal steps in the recovery of a metal from its ore are:

(1) preparation of the ore,

(2) production of the metal,and

(3) purification of the metal.

METALLURGIC PROCESSES
ORE

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important

elements such as metals.

Ores are extracted through mining; they are then refined to

extract the valuable element(s).

The grade or concentration of an ore mineral, or metal, as

well as its form of occurrence, will directly affect the costs
associated with mining it.
ORE

The cost of extraction must be weighed against the metal

value contained in the rock to determine which ores should
be processed and which ores are of too low a grade to be
worth mining.

Metal ores are generally oxides, sulfides and silicates of

“native” metals (such as native copper) that are not
commonly concentrated in the Earth’s crust.

Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes.

The process of ore formation is called ore genesis.
ORE PREPARATION

It takes multiple steps to extract the “important” element from the ore:

1. First, the ore must be separated from unwanted rocks.

2. Then, the minerals need to be separated out of the ore
3. Since most minerals are not pure metals, further separation methods are required.

Most minerals are chemical compounds that contain metals and other elements.
ORE PREPARATION: SEPARATION

1. FLOTATION - the ore is finely ground and added to

water containing oil and detergent.

2. Another rphysical separation process makes use of

the magnetic properties of certain minerals. Ferromagnetic
metals are strongly attracted to magnets.

3. Mercury forms amalgams with a number of metals. An

amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal or metals.
Mercury can therefore be used to extract metal from ore.
Mercury dissolves the silver and gold in an ore to form a liquid
amalgam, which is easily separated from the remaining ore.
The gold or silver is recovered by distilling off mercury.
PRODUCTION OF METALS

The term metal production refers to all of the processes

involved in the conversion of a raw material, such as a
metallic ore, to a final form in which the metal can be used
for some commercial or industrial purpose.
PURIFICATION OF METALS

Refining consists of purifying an impure material, in this

case a metal. In refining, the final material is usually
chemically identical to the original, but purer.

There are many different processes for refining, including

pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical techniques.

There are several methods of refining, or purifying, metals.

These methods include: Distillation, which involves vaporizing
the metal and then allowing it to solidify outside of the
impurities. Liquation, which involves melting the metal, and
allowing it to run out of the solid impurities.
Metallurgical Process
Metallurgical
Process
CONDUCTORS

A conductor is a material that is able to conduct electricity with minimal impedance to the electrical
flow. It is commonly a metal.

A conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as
copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons. Positive charges may also be
mobile, such as the cationic electrolyte(s) of a battery or the mobile protons of the proton conductor
of a fuel cell. Insulators are non-conducting materials with few mobile charges; they carry only
insignificant electric currents.
CONDUCTORS

All conductors contain electrical charges, which will move when an electric potential difference (measured
in volts) is applied across separate points on the material. This flow of charge (measured in amperes) is
what is referred to as electric current. In most materials, the direct current is proportional to the voltage (as
determined by Ohm’s law), provided the temperature remains constant and the material remains in the
same shape and state.

Most familiar conductors are metallic. Copper is the most common material used for electrical wiring. Silver
is the best conductor, but it is expensive. Because gold does not corrode, it is used for high-quality surface-
to-surface contacts. However, there are also many non-metallic conductors, including graphite, solutions of
salts, and all plasmas. There are even conductive polymers.
BAND THEORY OF ELECTRICAL
CONDUCTIVITY

Band theory states that delocalized (free) electrons move freely through "bands" formed by overlapping
molecular orbitals. The movement of the electrons causes, as physics kids will know, an electric current, so
in order to understand the conductivity of a metal, we must apply this theory and our knowledge of
quantum mechanics.
SEMICONDUCTORS

Semiconductors are materials that have properties in between those of normal conductors and insulators;
they are often produced by doping.

Semiconductors are materials that have properties of both normal conductors and insulators.
Semiconductors fall into two broad categories:

● Intrinsic semiconductors are composed of only one kind of material; silicon and germanium are
two examples. These are also called “undoped semiconductors” or “i-type semiconductors. “
● Extrinsic semiconductors, on the other hand, are intrinsic semiconductors with other substances
added to alter their properties — that is to say, they have been doped with another element.
PERIODIC TRENDS IN METALLIC PROPERTIES
PERIODIC TRENDS IN METALLIC PROPERTIES

Electronegativity -Electronegativity is a measure of the ability of an atom to attract the electrons

when the atom is part of a compound. Electronegativity values generally increase from left to right
across the periodic table.

Electronegativities generally decrease from top to bottom of a group. The highest electronegativity
value is for fluorine (4.0) and Cesium the lowest (EN = 0.79).

This indicates that fluorine has a high tendency to gain electrons from other elements with lower
electronegativities. We can use these values to predict what happens when certain elements
combine.

Since metals have few valence electrons, they tend to increase their stability by losing electrons to
become cations. Consequently, the electronegativities of metals are generally low.
ELECTRONEGATIVITY
PERIODIC TRENDS IN METALLIC PROPERTIES

Metallic Property - The metallic character of an element can be defined as how readily an atom can
lose an electron.

There are trends in metallic character as you move across and down the periodic table. Metallic
character decreases as you move across a period in the periodic table from left to right. This occurs
as atoms more readily accept electrons to fill a valence shell than lose them to remove the unfilled
shell.
Metallic character increases as you move down an element group in the periodic table. This is
because electrons become easier to lose as the atomic radius increases, where there is less
attraction between the nucleus and the valence electrons because of the increased distance
between them.
METALLIC PROPERTY
PERIODIC TRENDS IN METALLIC PROPERTIES

Atomic Radius - Atomic radius is determined as the distance between the nuclei of two identical
atoms bonded together. The atomic radius of atoms generally decreases from left to right across a
period. The atomic radius of atoms generally increases from top to bottom within a group.

The smaller the atomic radius, the more influence the nucleus has on reactivity. Since the
nucleus of an atom contains positively charged protons, it also attracts electrons. Halogen
atoms already want to gain electrons, so the added force of nuclear pull makes them more
reactive.

From top to bottom down a group, electronegativity decreases. This is because atomic

number increases down a group, and thus there is an increased distance between the
valence electrons and nucleus, or a greater atomic radius.
ATOMIC RADIUS
PERIODIC TRENDS IN METALLIC PROPERTIES

Electron Affinity – the degree to which an atom or molecule attracts additional electrons;
the minimum energy required to remove an electron from a negative ion to produce a neutral
atom or molecule.

Electron affinity increases upward across periods of a periodic table for the

groups and from left to right, because the electrons added to the energy levels get closer to
the nucleus, making the nucleus and its electrons more attractive.

Electronegativity refers to the ability of the atoms to attract the electrons from the other
elements. Electron affinity refers to the amount of energy that is liberated whenever a
molecule or a neutral atom tends to acquire an electron from the other elements.
ELECTRON AFFINITY
ALKALI METALS

The most electropositive or the least electronegative

elements known are the alkali metals. These metals have
a body-centered crystal structure with low packing
efficiency.

They are also known because of their low melting

point and soft enough to be sliced with a knife.

The lightest known metal is lithium and has great

chemical reactivity. Lithium never occur naturally in
elemental form and they are found with halide, sulfate,
carbonate, and silicate ions.
ALKALINE EARTH METALS

The alkaline earth metals (beryllium, magnesium, calcium,

strontium, barium, and radium) are the second most reactive
metals in the periodic table, and, like the Group 1 metals, have
increasing reactivity in the higher periods.

● shiny
● silvery-white
● somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and
pressure
● readily lose their two outermost electrons to form
cations with a 2+ charge
● low densities
● low melting points
● low boiling points
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
TRANSITION METALS

Transition metal, any of various chemical elements that

have valence electrons—i.e., electrons that can participate in
the formation of chemical bonds—in two shells instead of
only one.

While the term transition has no particular chemical

significance, it is a convenient name by which to distinguish
the similarity of the atomic structures and resulting
properties of the elements so designated.

Specifically, they form Groups 3 (IIIb) through 12 (IIb).

Early and Late Transition Metals

What is the difference between late transition metals and early transition metals?

The early vs. late transition metals differ in their oxidation states (each metal has different possible
oxidation states). Electrons have a stronger attraction to the protons in the late transition metals, so
the later transition metals form bonds that are harder to break.
Early and Late Transition Metals
Late Transition Metals
CHEMISTRY OF IRON

It is a very common element, fourth most abundant in the

earth's crust. In addition, two of the ten most common
compounds in the earth's crust are the two common oxides of
iron, Fe2O3 and FeO.

In its pure form, iron is a silvery-white metal, distinguished by its

ability to take and retain a magnetic field, and also dissolve small
amounts of carbon when molten (thus yielding steel).

Pure iron reacts readily with oxygen and moisture in the

environment and corrodes destructively. Even alloys such as
steel need protection by painting or some other coating to
prevent structural failure over time.
CHEMISTRY OF COPPER

Copper occupies the same family of the periodic table as

silver and gold, since they each have one s-orbital electron
on top of a filled electron shell which forms metallic bonds.
This similarity in electron structure makes them similar in
many characteristics.

All have very high thermal and electrical conductivity, and

all are malleable metals. Among pure metals at room
temperature, copper has the second highest electrical and
thermal conductivity, after silver.
CHEMISTRY OF COPPER

Copper occurs both in combined state and free state and

also in many ores. The important ores of copper are copper
pyrites, cuprite and copper glance. The copper ores are
mostly found in the north of India.

The extraction of copper also involves many steps. The ore

used for extraction is copper pyrites, which is crushed,
concentrated and then heated in the presence of air.

During heating the moisture gets expelled and the copper

pyrites gets converted to ferrous sulfide and cuprous
sulfide.
 Chemistry of GOLD

● Gold is one of the densest of all metals. It is a

good conductor of heat and electricity. It is also
soft and the most malleable and ductile of the
elements; an ounce (28 grams) can be beaten out to
187 square feet (about 17 square metres) in extremely
thin sheets called gold leaf.
● Gold is the only metal that is yellow or "golden."
Other metals may develop a yellowish color, but only
after they have oxidized or reacted with other
chemicals. Nearly all the gold on Earth came from
meteorites that bombarded the planet over 200 million
years after it formed
Chemistry of GOLD

The "Karat" is the unit

we use to measure how
much Gold is in a ring
or a piece of jewelry
relative to the other
metals that are present.
A higher Karat means
more Gold in your
jewelry.
Chemistry of GOLD
1. First, it’s extremely soft. Because pure gold is so soft, it bends and warps easily,
making it a poor metal for jewelry that needs to retain its shape. Pure gold also
scratches easily, meaning it doesn’t take long for pure gold jewelry to become
scuffed and unattractive.

2. Second, it’s very bright. The color of pure gold is much brighter and more orange
than what most people associate with the gold used in jewelry. Because of this, it
generally isn’t an attractive metal for rings, watches and other gold jewelry.

3. Third, it’s extremely expensive. Pure gold contains almost twice as much gold as 14K
gold (the most popular type of gold used for jewelry in the US), meaning it costs much
more to produce jewelry using this metal. On the other hand, it’s the best type for
selling your gold for cash in the future.

Because of these factors, it’s very uncommon for 24K gold to be used in engagement
rings and other types of wearable jewelry in the United States and other Western
countries.
Part II: METALS

RHONA C. ADAJAR