Understanding Metallic Property

• Metallic property is a periodic property that defines how metals behave.
• Coin, a spoon and wires in a charger are all metals.

Metallic Property

• Metallic property is how easily an element loses electrons to form positive ions, known as cations.
• The more metallic an element, the more readily it gives away electrons.
• Metallic property increases down a group in the periodic table and decreases across a period from left to right.
• Metals like aluminum loses electrons easily, whereas nonmetals like oxygen prefer to gain them.
• As you move down a group, atoms get bigger and the outermost electrons are farther from the nucleus making them easier to lose, increasing metallic property.
• Lithium (Li) is a reactive Group 1 alkali metal.
• Sodium (Na) is more reactive than Lithium.
• Cesium (Cs) is super reactive.
• Metals tend to form cations because it is easier to lose their few valence electrons to achieve a full outer shell.

The Most Metallic Metal?

• Francium (Fr) is the most metallic element.
• Francium is highly radioactive and super rare, disintegrating in seconds, making it unsuitable for jewelry.
• Cesium (Cs) and lithium (Li) are alkali metals that easily lose one electron, but cesium is more reactive.
• Cesium's electrons are farther from the nucleus, so it loses electrons faster, making it more reactive.
• If lithium were a gentle firecracker, cesium would be a full-blown explosion

A Liquid Metal?

• Mercury (Hg) is a metal that is liquid at room temperature.
• Mercury used to be used in thermometers, but was found to be toxic.

Importance of Metallic Property

• Understanding metallic properties helps us build stronger materials by mixing metals, which creates alloys like stainless steel.
• Understanding metallic properties enables advancements in technology like the creation of circuit boards and solar panels.
• Metallic properties are important for understanding chemistry, medicine, engineering, and even space travel!

Metallic Character

• Metallic character is how easily an element loses electrons.
• Metallic character decreases across a period (left to right) because of stronger nuclear attraction.
• Metallic character increases down a group because of weaker electron attraction.
• Cesium is more reactive than lithium because its electrons are farther from the nucleus.
• Pure gold is slightly reddish, but we see it as yellow because of how it interacts with light.