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Metal

In chemistry, a metal is an element that readily forms positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds. Metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionization and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po) separates the metals from the nonmetals. Most elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals. A modern definition of metals is that they have overlapping conduction bands and valence bands in their electronic structure. This definition opens up the category for metallic polymers and other organic metals, which have been made by researchers and employed in high-tech devices. These synthetic materials often have the characteristic silvery-grey reflectiveness of elemental metals. The traditional definition focuses on the bulk properties of metals. They tend to be lustrous, ductile, malleable, and good conductors of electricity, while nonmetals are generally brittle (for solid nonmetals), lack lustre, and are insulators.

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Matter & Energy News

March 18, 2026

MIT physicists have built a powerful new microscope that uses terahertz light to uncover hidden quantum motions inside superconductors. By compressing this normally unwieldy light into a tiny region, ...
Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have uncovered a new way to manipulate unusual magnetic states by exploiting “frustration” inside a crystal’s atomic structure. The team discovered a rare system where two different kinds of ...
Scientists have developed a powerful new computational method that could accelerate the search for next-generation materials capable of turning sunlight into useful chemical energy. The work focuses on polyheptazine imides, a promising class of ...
Scientists are exploring a surprisingly simple way to clean up diesel engines: adding tiny droplets of water to the fuel. During combustion, the water rapidly vaporizes, triggering micro-explosions that improve fuel mixing and lower combustion ...
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a new aluminum alloy called RidgeAlloy that can turn contaminated car-body scrap into strong structural vehicle parts. Normally, impurities ...
Scientists have found a way to significantly boost “blue energy,” which generates electricity from the mixing of saltwater and freshwater. By coating nanopores with lipid molecules that create a friction-reducing water layer, they enabled ions ...
Engineers have discovered an unexpected link between two very different realms of physics: the behavior of electrons in graphene and magnetic waves in specially engineered materials. By designing a thin magnetic film with a hexagonal pattern of ...
Solid-state batteries could be safer and more energy-dense than today’s lithium-ion technology, but finding materials that allow ions to move quickly through solid electrolytes has been difficult. ...
A team of physicists has experimentally confirmed a long-predicted sequence of exotic magnetic phases in an atomically thin material. When cooled, the material forms tiny magnetic vortices before transitioning into a second ordered magnetic ...
A new ultrathin photodetector from Duke University can sense light across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and generate a signal in just 125 picoseconds, making it the fastest pyroelectric detector ever built. The breakthrough could power ...
Scientists at the University of Tokyo have captured something never seen before: a frame-by-frame view of how electron spins flip inside an antiferromagnet, a material once thought to be magnetically “invisible.” By firing ultrafast electrical ...
Researchers at the University of Basel and the ETH in Zurich have succeeded in changing the polarity of a special ferromagnet using a laser beam. In the future, this method could be used to create adaptable electronic circuits with ...

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