Properties of Metals

1. Focus Question: What are
some properties of metals?
Elements and Atoms 4-2
Mixtures and Solutions

2. Organizing the Elements
• How many different elements occur
naturally on Earth?
• How many different kinds of atoms occur
naturally on Earth? Why do you think so?
• How was Mendeleyev able to predict the
existence of elements that had not yet
been discovered?
• What is atomic number? How is it used to
create a periodic table?

3. Periodic Table Review
• Open text books to pg 48, Periodic Table of
the Elements
• Elements are in order by atomic number
• Elements in columns have similar chemical
properties
• Color is used to show groups of elements
that have properties in common.
• Find the largest group of elements. What
are some familiar ones in that group?

4. Metals
• All metals share several properties.
• Have a shiny luster when a fresh surface
is exposed.
• Can be bent, stretched, and hammered
into different shapes with out breaking.
• Metals have two other properties that
nonmetals don’t.
• Let’s see if we can figure out what they
are.

5. Materials Test
• Aluminum
• Metal? Element?
• Copper
• Metal? Element?
• Brass
• Metal? Element?
• Not an element. No brass atom.
• Mixture of two metals, copper and zinc.
• Mixtures of metals are called alloys.
• Are copper and zinc elements?
• What kind of atoms do you think are in the metal alloy
brass?

6. More Materials
• Stainless steel
• Metal? Element?
• Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements.
• Element that make steel stainless is chromium.
• Chromium is an element.
• Stainless steel alloy contains iron and chromium
atoms.
• Plastic
• Metal? Element?
• Wood
• Metal? Element?

7. Electric Conductivity
• When I touch the two wires together,
electricity flows in the circuit and the
light glows.
• Materials that allow the flow of
electric current are called electricity
conductors. The wires are electricity
conductors.
• Which materials will conduct
electricity?

8. Heat Conductivity
• Predict what will happen to the paper
clips stuck to the strips when I put the
bottoms of the material strips in hot
water.
• Materials that allow heat to flow
through them are heat conductors.

9. Record Results
• Complete Part 1 of Properties of
Materials worksheet.
• Which materials conducted heat and
electricity?
• Complete Part 2 of worksheet.

10. Review Responses
• Which materials conducted both heat and
electricity?
• What is the same about those materials?
• Which metal conducted heat best and which
one conducted heat worst?
• What is your evidence?
• Check the elements you think are good
conductors of heat and electricity and
explain why.

11. Vocabulary
• Metals - most of the 90 naturally occurring
elements on Earth are this. Metals have
common properties.
• Alloy - mixtures of two or more metals are
called metal alloys
• Electricity conductors - all metals conduct
electricity
• Heat conductors - all metals conduct heat

12. Content
• What properties do all metals share?
• Metals are elements that are shiny, are
shapable, and can conduct heat and
electricity.
• Are metals alloys? How can you tell?
• Yes, they have the universal properties shared
by metallic elements.
• Your questions?
• Homework - Read Metals and answer
questions; pages 52-58.

13. Metals Review Questions
• What is an alloy?
• What properties do all metals have in
common?
• Which of these metals are elements?
Which are alloys?
• Nickel, bronze, steel, cobalt, chromium,
alnico, gold, zinc, tin, brass