Properties of Metals_Key Questions

Question 1

What is a Metal?

Answer 1

Ametalis a material that is typically hard, opaque, shiny, malleable, ductile and has good electricaland thermal conductivity.

Question 2

What is an example of an exemption to the typical properties of a metal?

Answer 2

Mercury

Question 3

What are the key Charactieristics of Metals?

Answer 3

1. Malleable. 2. Ductile 3. Lustrous or Reflective 4. Hard with Tensile Strength. 5. Low ionisation energies

Question 4

What are the Steps involved in Determining Charges

Answer 4

1. Determine the number of protons and electrons (should be the same) in the element
2. What is the shell configuration of the element
3. Work out the number of electrons in the outer shell (from Q2) and take away from the total number of electrons to work out how many electrons remain
4. Determine the Cation Charge =’s number of protons – number of electrons

Question 5

What are Transition Metals

Answer 5

• Generally, have unfilled d-subshells and are often referred to as the d-block
• Most are silver colour and similar in appearance

Question 6

What are the properties of Transition Metals when compared to normal metals.

Answer 6

1. Harder. 2. Higher Densities 3. Higher melting points. 4. Some have strong magnetic properties

Question 7

Determine the charge of the cations from the following metal if they lost all of their outer-shell electrons. Li

Answer 7

Li atoms have 3 electrons.
The electronic structure is 1s22s1.
There is one electron in the outer shell.
The charge of the cation will therefore be 1+.

Question 8

Determine the charge of the cations from the following metal if they lost all of their outer-shell electrons. Ba

Answer 8

Mg atoms have 12 electrons.
The electronic structure is 1s22s22p63s2.
There are two electrons in the outer shell.
The charge of the cation will therefore be 2+.

Question 9

Sodium and iron have different physical properties. Explain why this is so?

Answer 9

Sodium belongs to the alkali metals which have relatively low melting and boiling points, relatively low density and are relatively soft.
Iron is a transition metal, which have relatively high melting and boiling points, relatively high densityand are relatively hard.

Question 10

Whay are metals Lustrous?

Answer 10

Metals are lustrous – because the delocalised electrons will reflect any light that is incident upon them

Question 11

Why are Metals good conductors of heat?

Answer 11

The delocalised electrons will bump into each other and their neighbouring cations, resulting in a transfer of heat between particles. The electrons transfer this heat energy very rapidly because they are free to move