Guest kornpopz Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I was jus wondering........I have read many chemistry books throughout my life and taken numerous chemistry classes...but i have yet to have heard another name for the zigzag line which separates metals from nonmetals...doesnt "zigzag line" sound a little "unscientific"? im sure there is another name for it and if anybody knows please reply on this thread....thnx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budullewraagh Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 i never really bothered to care enough; i just know the elements on either side. it's something like the metal-nonmetal staircase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silencer Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 It's called "the step"; it seperates the metals and nonmetals. You should also notice it seperating Hydrogen and Lithium, since Hydrogen doesn't really fit with the other group 1 elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdurg Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Yup. Pretty much anything to the left, or beneath, the line is a metal, and anything to the right, or above, the line is a non-metal. Those elements which are right on the line are typically considered as 'semi-metallic' substances such as antimony, silicon, germanium, tellurium, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budullewraagh Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 note to all: "metal" and "nonmetal" is really subjective. thats why i don't think of elements in such terms. for example, when i think of antimony, i think of a dark toxic solid with little luster. it gains a positive formal charge of +3 or +5 predominantly but can gain a negative formal charge of -3 predominantly. etc when i think of silicon i think of carbon but with less potential to form huge molecules. i think of semiconductors. i think of 4 not-too-polar bonds. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paganinio Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 you are right but calling them metal and non-metal is fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primarygun Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Is it necessary for us to study the chemistry nomenclature? The periodic table is very useful to show the structure of atoms, I think the purpose of introducing this table to us from our teacher mainly is this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rebel Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I was jus wondering........I have read many chemistry books throughout my life and taken numerous chemistry classes...but i have yet to have heard another name for the zigzag line which separates metals from nonmetals...doesnt "zigzag line" sound a little "unscientific"? im sure there is another name for it and if anybody knows please reply on this thread....thnx Google says its called a metalloid line http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jan99/915517377.Ch.r.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PersonCube Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 That's close to what I have known it as. I have called it the "metalloid stair step" or "stair case" but I don't really care. XP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kornpopz Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 thanx all for ur responses...i know its not a really important matter..but...sometimes..i jus wonder........how do they fight about what sounds more scientific in nomenclatures of biology..etc...and leave soemthing that sound as if a first grader named it.........again.......thnx.......and sorry for the two threads... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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