Metals, Non-metals and Metalloids

0:00Is an element a metal, a non-metal, or something in between? The periodic table shows you.

0:07Find the zigzag staircase line on the right side of the table.

0:12Most elements are metals, and they are all on the left of the line.

0:17Metals are usually shiny, and they conduct heat and electricity well.

0:22They are malleable, meaning they can be bent into shape, and ductile, meaning they can be drawn into wire.

0:30Non-metals are on the right of the line, mostly in the upper right corner.

0:35Solid non-metals are usually dull and brittle, meaning they shatter when hit.

0:41Most are poor conductors, and many are gases, like oxygen, nitrogen and chlorine.

0:48Hydrogen sits on the far left, so it is easy to think it is a metal.

0:53It is not. Hydrogen is a non-metal gas.

0:58It sits in group 1, the first column, because its atom has one outer electron.

1:04The elements along the staircase are metalloids, also called semi-metals.

1:10The six usually listed are boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony and tellurium.

1:18Metalloids are in between: they look shiny like a metal, but are brittle like a non-metal.

1:25Some metalloids, like silicon, are semiconductors: they conduct electricity, but less well than metals.

1:33Silicon is the semiconductor used to make computer chips.

1:37Metals are on the left, non-metals at the upper right, and metalloids along the staircase between them.