Properties of Non-Metals
Non-metals also exhibit various properties depending on their physical and chemical behavior, as metals do. The non-metals have wide applications, in manufacturing different chemicals and are highly important in our day-to-day life. Here are some important physical and chemical properties of non-metals that are explained below:
Physical Properties of Non-Metals
- Non-Lustrous: Non-Metals do not have any shine, or we can say non-lustrous. While diamond and iodine are the exceptions as they are lustrous in nature.
- Bad conductor of Heat and Electricity: Unlike metals, non-metals are poor conductors of heat and electricity except Graphite which is a very good conductor of electricity.
- Low density and melting point: Most non-metals are very low melting points and low densities.
- Brittle: Non-Metals are very much brittle in nature means they can break if they got stretched or beaten, that means non-metals are neither malleable nor ductile in nature.
- Sonorous: Non-Metals are non-sonorous as they do not produce any ringing sounds.
- Solid, Liquid, Gas: Most of the non-metals are present in the gaseous state, but there are some metals too which exist in the liquid and solid states too.
Properties of Metals and Non-Metals
Metals and Non-metals have different properties and reactivity with other elements. This difference between the physical and chemical properties of elements depends on their position in the periodic table. The physical properties of substances (or elements) include tendencies like conductivity, density, malleability, ductility, lustrousness, physical state, etc. Moreover, the chemical properties of elements can include reactions with other elements and compounds, in order to check their reactivity, also include electronegativity, etc. Here is the periodic table showing metals, non-metals, and metalloids at different position and are highlighted with different colors, as shown below: