Answer:
See below
Explanation:
Most of the elements found on earth are metals. A look at the periodic table shows that these elements occupy the entire left-hand stretch of the table, from the main group, through the transition metals, lanthanides, actinides, alkali and alkaline earth elements. One element included here, hydrogen, is rarely classified as a metal. On earth, hydrogen is a gas, and it is usually classified as a non-metal, like oxygen and nitrogen. However, at very low temperatures and very high pressures, hydrogen is a solid, and under the right conditions it is expected to behave more like a metal. It is thought that gas giants, such as Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system, may have metallic hydrogen cores. Metallic elements are not generally found as single atoms. Instead, the atoms in an element such as iron cluster together to make a larger structure. The materials formed in this way have some similar properties. Metals are shiny. Metals are malleable; they can be bent and formed into different shapes (at least when heated). Metals are good conductors of electricity. In metals, large groups of atoms cluster together. Metal atoms form large, extended arrays, with the atoms repeating in specific patterns throughout the solid.
The properties of metals are really important. The fact that metals are malleable allows them to be formed into sheets that can be used to make cars, airplanes, railway lines, cargo containers and ships, as well as more delicate items such as jewelry and surgical tools. A related property, ductility, allows metals to be stretched into long, thin wires. Together with the conductivity of metals, this property allows transmission lines to carry electricity from generating stations to people like you. Sometimes, the source of electricity is hundreds of miles away; electricity used to power a laptop in New York may come from places like La Grande Baleine or James Bay, in northwestern Quebec. Some of these properties can be understood by thinking about the structure of metallic elements. A great deal of our structural understanding of metals and other materials comes from x-ray diffraction studies. A very focused beam of x-rays can be sent into a material, where they will bounce off the atoms and scatter in different directions. The outcome sounds chaotic, but if the solid is highly organized, the x-rays behave in very predictable ways. The result is an x-ray diffraction pattern. A diffraction pattern is a little like the pattern of ripples on a pond when a stone is thrown into calm water. The pattern can be studied and decoded mathematically to find the locations of the atoms within the material. X-ray diffraction can reveal the atomic-level structures of highly ordered materials such as metals. What does x-ray diffraction tell us? Evidently, a chunk of metal is not just a mass of atoms stuck together randomly. Instead, the atoms arrange themselves in neat layers in very specific ways. These layers of atoms sit on top of each other to form a three-dimensional solid. One of the properties that results from this organized arrangement of atoms is the malleability of metals. If you take a nice, soft metal such as copper, after annealing it in a fire or oven, it can be bent and shaped easily. With copper, this can be done even after the metal has cooled to room temperature. When you bend the copper, you are actually causing layers of atoms to slide over each other, until you stop bending and they come to rest in a new location. If you have ever done this, you'll know that the more you work with the copper, the harder it is to bend. That's because while you are sliding layers of atoms back and forth, occasionally an atom (or an entire row of atoms) slips out of place. It is no longer part of a smooth layer, and so other atoms can't slide past it as easily. This situation is called a defect. Once there are enough defects in the metal, it is impossible to bend the material anymore. Metal atoms are found in organized layers. Because these layers can roll over each other, metals can be worked into different shapes.
