Physical Properties

• Physical state – Except mercury and gallium, all metals are solids at room temperature.

• Lustre – Metals possess a high lustre.

• Hardness – Resistance to indentation.

• Melting point – The temperature at which the state of a substance changes from solid to liquid.

• Boiling point – The temperature at which the substance vaporize.

• Density – It is the measure of mass per unit volume.

• Ductility – The ability of a material which can be deformed plastically without failure or fracture.

• Malleability – The ability of a material which can be rolled or pressed without failure or fracture.

• Conduction of heat – The ability of the transfer of heat.

• Conduction of electricity – The ability of the transfer of electricity.

• Solubility – The ability of a substance to dissolve in a solvent to form a solution.

Chemical Properties

• Valence electrons – Electrons in an outermost shell in an atom that may participate in the
formation of a chemical bonding.

• Formation of ions – The addition or removal of electrons from the neutral atom forms the ions.
Metals losses the electrons to form Positive ions. Hence they are electro positive.

• Discharge of ions – At cathode metals get discharged during the electrolysis process.

• Atomicity – Total number of atoms that constitute a molecule.

• Nature of oxides – Oxides of metals are usually basic.

In metal mining, sulfuric acid is used to leach copper oxide minerals. In one process, a solution of
sulfuric acid laden with copper sulfate is stripped of copper via a solvent extraction and electro
winning with the used sulfuric acid recycled back into the process.