Home > Chemistry > Properties of ionic, covalent, and metallic compounds

What is a common characteristic of a metal?

Answer 1

Lustrous, malleable, ductile, electrically conductive

The metallic lattice consists of layers of metal cations being held together by a "sea" of their delocalised electrons. Here's a diagram to illustrate this:

Lustrous- The delocalised electrons vibrate when hit by light, producing their own light.
Malleable/ductile- Metal sheets/ions are able to roll past each other into new positions, without the metallic bonds breaking apart.
Electrically conductive- delocalised electrons are able to move around and carry a current.

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Answer 2

Luna Chen

The ability of metals to conduct electricity is a common property.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.