Nonmetal, or non-metal, is a term used in chemistry when classifying the chemical elements.

On the basis of their general physical and chemical properties, every element in the periodic table can be termed either a metal or a nonmetal. (A few elements with intermediate properties are referred to as metalloids). A metal (from Greek "" mtallon, "mine, quarry, metal"[1][2]) is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable, ductile and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light.[3] In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions (cations). Those ions are surrounded by de-localized electrons, which are responsible for the conductivity. The solid thus produced is held together by electrostatic interactions between the ions and the electron cloud, which are called metallic bonds.[4] A metalloid is a chemical element with properties that are in-between or a mixture of those of metals and nonmetals, and which is considered to be difficult to classify unambiguously as either a metal or a nonmetal. There is no standard definition of a metalloid nor is there agreement as to which elements are appropriately classified as such. Despite this lack of specificity the term continues to be used in the chemistry literature.
PROPERTIES OF METALS This section is devoted primarily to the terms used in describing various properties and characteristics of metals in general. Of primary concern in aircraft maintenance are such general properties of metals and their alloys as hardness, brittleness, malleability, ductility, elasticity, toughness, density, fusibility, conductivity, and contraction and expansion. You must know the definition of the terms included here because they form the basis for further discussion of aircraft metals. NON-METALS 1. Non-metals are not malleable or brittle : Non-metals cannot be hammered or beaten into thin sheets without breaking. Non-metals break into pieces when hammered or stretched. Sulphur, phosphorous are powders and cannot be made into a sheet. Brittleness is a characteristic property of non-metals. 2. Non-metals are not ductile : Non-metals cannot be melted and drawn into thin wires. Non-metals do not have free electrons. Thus the bonds between atoms in the elements are weak and they snap when stretched. The non-ductility property follows from the non-malleability or the brittleness property. 3. Non-metals are bad conductors of heat and electricity : In non-metals, the bonds formed are weak as there are no free electrons to share. Other than graphite, which is an allotropic form of carbon, none of the non-metals are good conductors of heat and electricity. Graphite is able to conduct electricity because of its special crystalline arrangement. 4. Non-metals have no lustre : Non-metals are in the form of powder or are gaseous. Hence they cannot be polished and they do not have any lustre. Most of the powders are dull in colour. Only graphite can be polished to some degree. Iodine shows some lustre as it has more electrons. 5. Non-metals are not strong : Due to their non-ductile and non-malleable properties, non-metals are not strong at all. Their bonds break easily, as the electrons are not shared. 6. Physical state : Non-metals can be in the form of solids, liquids or gaseous at room temperature. Some non-metals like carbon, sulphur, phosphorus are solids at room temperature. Bromine is liquid at room temperature. Most other non-metals are gaseous at room temperature. Solid non-metals are soft

materials. Carbon in its allotropic form of diamond is an exception here; diamond is the hardest substance found in nature. 7. Melting and boiling points : All non-metals, have low melting and boiling points. The melting point of sulphur (S) is 115C. Graphite and diamonds have high melting points, but these are exceptions in the non-metals. 8. Solubility of non-metals : Non-metals are soluble in some chemical or organic solvents. For example iodine (I) is soluble in alcohol. 9. Density of non-metals : Non-metals have low densities as compared to metals, which have high densities. This means that in non-metals, the atoms are not strongly bound. The crystalline volume of non-metals is small. 10. Non-metals are not sonorous : Non-metals do not make any characteristic sound when hit with an object. Thus non-metals are not sonorous.

Physical Properties Metalloids can be shiny like metals or dull like non-metals. They are ductile in nature and can be drawn in shapes of pipes. They are conductors of heat and electricity, but not as good as metals. Metalloids like boron, germanium, arsenic are used as dopants in glasses in semiconductor chips. Metalloids are usually brittle in nature and behave as electrical insulators at room temperature. Chemical Properties Metalloids tend to have an intermediate property between metals and non-metals. They may look like metals, in case of arsenic and antimony that are crystalline solids. However, in chemical reactions, they may behave either as metals or non-metals. The metalloids are usually amphoteric oxides as metals are basically basic oxides and non-metals are generally acidic oxides. Some metalloids like boron, silicon and germanium behave as semiconductors. Their chemical reactivity depends on the substance they react with. Like boron acts as a metal when reacting with fluorine and behaves as non-metals when reacting with sodium. Many metalloids have different allotropes. For a given metalloid, one of its allotrope may react as a metal and the other allotrope may behave as a non-metal. Some allotropes have more prominent metal, non-metal or metalloid behavior. Carbon in its diamond allotrope acts like a true non-metal, but graphite allotrope has limited ability to conduct electricity. Allotropes of tin, phosphorous and bismuth exhibit borderline behavior. However, in a standard periodic table layout, you will observe that some metalloids that are placed on the upper right side of the diagonal line through the p-block display increasing non-metallic behavior. Those elements that are placed to the lower left of the line are more metallic in character. This diagonal line is called the 'stairstep' or 'staircase'. In short, non-metals are placed to the right end up and poor metals are placed to the left side below. This was some information related to the metalloids properties. Their basic properties are somewhere between metals and non-metals. I hope this article has helped you learn more about properties of metalloids.