Metals

If you look carefully at Figure 1.1, you can see a stair-stepped line starting at boron (B), atomic number 5, and going all the way down to polonium (Po), atomic number 84.

 Except for germanium (Ge) and antimony (Sb), all the elements to the left of that line can be classified as metals. Figure 1.2 shows the metals.

  These metals have properties that you normally associate with the metals you encounter in everyday life. They’re solid at room temperature (with the exception of mercury, Hg, a liquid), shiny, good conductors of electricity and heat, ductile (they can be drawn into thin wires), and malleable (they can be easily hammered into very thin sheets). All these metals tend to lose electrons easily.  As you can see, the vast majority of the elements on the periodic table are classified as metals.