Class-10th IIAS

K.Bpur, Ganjam

Chapter 3
Metals and Non-metals (Class Notes)

Physical properties of Metals and Non-Metals

Point to be Remember

• Liquid Metal- Mercury (Hg) • Liquid Non-metal- Bromine (Br)

• Low M.P and B.P metals- Gallium (Ga) and Caesium (Cs) • Lustrous non-metal- Iodine (I)
• Best conductor of heat and electricity- Silver (Ag) • Hardest natural substance known
• Most Malleable and Ductile Metal- Gold (Au) and has a very high melting and
• Metals that can be cut with a knife (Soft Metals)- Alkali boiling point non-metal- Diamond-
metals (lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K). (an allotrope of carbon)-

N.B.- Allotrope- Carbon is a non-metal that can exist in different forms. Each form is called
an allotrope.
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1. Chemical Properties of Metals:

(A) Reaction of Metals with Air: Metals combine with oxygen to form metal oxide.
Metals + O2 → Metal oxide
Examples: (i) 2Cu + O2 2CuO
(Copper) (Copper(II) oxide) (black)
(ii) 4Al + 3O2 2Al2O3
(Aluminium) (Aluminium oxide)
(iii) 2Mg + O2 2MgO
(Magnesium oxide )

Point to be Remember
Different metals show different reactivity towards Oxygen.
• Sodium (Na) and potassium (K) react so vigorously with oxygen that they catch fire
if kept in open. Hence, to protect them and to prevent accidental fires, they are kept
immersed in kerosene.
• Surfaces of Mg, Al, Zn and Pb (Lead) are covered with a thin layer of oxide which
prevent them from further oxidation.
• Iron (Fe) does not burn on heating but iron fillings burn vigorously.
• Copper (Cu) does not burn but is coated with black copper (II) oxide.
• Gold (Au) and Silver (Ag) do not react with oxygen.

N.B.
• Most of the metal oxides are basic in nature.
• Amphoteric Oxides: Metal oxides which react with both acids as well as bases to
produce salt and water are called amphoteric oxides. Examples: Aluminium oxides and
Zinc Oxides (ZnO).

Al2O3 + 6HCl 2AlCl3 + 3H2O

(Aluminium chloride)
Al2O3 + 2NaOH 2NaAlO2 + H2O
(Sodium aluminate)
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• Most metal oxides are insoluble in water but some of these dissolves in water to form
alkalis. Sodium oxide and potassium oxide dissolve in water to produce alkalis as
follows –
Examples: Na2O(s) + H2O(l) 2NaOH(aq)
K2O(s) + H2O(l) 2KOH (aq)

Anodising
• Anodising is a process of forming a thick oxide layer of aluminium.
• Aluminium develops a thin oxide layer when exposed to air. This aluminium oxide coat
makes it resistant to further corrosion.
• The resistance can be improved further by making the oxide layer thicker. During
anodising, a clean aluminium article is made the anode and is electrolysed with dilute
sulphuric acid. The oxygen gas evolved at the anode reacts with aluminium to make a
thicker protective oxide layer. This oxide layer can be dyed easily to give aluminium
articles an attractive finish.
B. Reaction of Metals with Water: Metals react with water to produce metal hydroxide
and hydrogen gas. Metal oxides that are soluble in water dissolve in it to further form metal
hydroxide. But all metals do not react with water
Metal + Water → Metal oxide + Hydrogen
Metal oxide + Water → Metal hydroxide
Examples: 2Mg + 2H2O → 2MgO + 2H2 ↑

Point to be Remember
• Sodium and Potassium react vigorously with water. In case of sodium and potassium, the
reaction is so violent and exothermic that the evolved hydrogen immediately catches fire.
2K(s) + 2H2O(l) 2KOH (aq) + H2(g) + heat energy
2Na(s) + 2H2O(l) 2NaOH (aq) + H2(g) + heat energy
• The reaction of calcium with water is less violent. The heat evolved is not sufficient for the
hydrogen to catch fire.
Ca(s) + 2H2O(l) Ca (OH)2 (aq) + H2(g)
Thus, Calcium starts floating in water because the bubbles of hydrogen gas formed stick
to the surface of the metal.
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• Magnesium does not react with cold water. It reacts with hot water to produce magnesium
hydroxide and hydrogen gas. It also starts floating due to the bubbles of hydrogen gas
sticking to its surface
Mg + 2H2O → Mg (OH)2 + H2
• Metals like aluminium, iron and zinc do not react either with cold or hot water. But they
react with steam to form the metal oxide and hydrogen.
2Al(s) + 3H2O(g) Al2O3(s) + 3H2(g)
3Fe(s) + 4H2O(g) Fe3O4(s) + 4H2(g)
• Metals like silver, gold, copper and lead do not react with water.

C. Reactions of Metals with Acid:

Metal + Dil. Acid → Salt + Hydrogen gas
e.g., Mg + H2SO4 → MgSO4 + H2 Copper, mercury and silver don’t react with dilute
acids.
Point to be Remember
• Hydrogen gas is not evolved when a metal reacts with nitric acid. It is because HNO3
is a strong oxidising agent. It oxidises the H2 produced to water and itself gets reduced to
any of the nitrogen oxides (N2O, NO, NO2).
• But magnesium (Mg) and manganese (Mn) react with very dilute HNO3 to evolve H2 gas
thus that the rate of formation of bubbles is the fastest in the case of magnesium. The
reaction was also the most exothermic in this case.
• The reactivity decreases in the order Mg > Al > Zn > Fe.
• In the case of copper, no bubbles were seen and the temperature also remained unchanged.
This shows that copper does not react with dilute HCl.
Aqua regia, (Latin for ‘royal water’)
• Aqua regia is a freshly prepared mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and
concentrated nitric acid in the ratio of 3:1.
• It can dissolve gold, even though neither of these acids can do so alone.
• It is a highly corrosive, fuming liquid. It is one of the few reagents that is able to dissolve
gold and platinum.
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D. Reaction of Metals with solutions of other Metal Salts:

Metal A + Salt solution B → Salt solution A + Metal B
Reactive metals can displace less reactive metals from their compounds in solution form.
Fe + CuSO4 → FeSO4 + Cu
Reactivity or activity series of metals:
All the metals do not react with the same rate. Some react very fast; some react moderately
whereas others react very slowly. The series of metals in decreasing order of reactivity
is called reactivity or activity series of metals. The metals at the top (K at the top most)
are most reactive whereas metals at the bottom (Pt at extreme bottom) is least reactive.

2. Chemical properties of Non-Metals:

a. Reaction with oxygen:
Non- metals react with oxygen to form acidic oxides.
e.g., C + O2 → CO2
b. Reaction with water: Non-metals do not react with water.
c. Reaction with dil. acids: No reaction.
d. Reaction with salt solutions: A more reactive non-metals will displace less reactive
non-metal from its salt solution.
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e. Reaction with chlorine: Non-metals react with chlorine to form their respective
Chlorides.
e.g., H2 + Cl2 → 2HCl
f. Reaction with hydrogen: Non-metals react with hydrogen to form their respective
hydrides.
e.g., H2 + S → H2S

Reaction between Metal and Non-metals:

• Reactivity of an element is the tendency to attain completely filled valence shells.
• Atoms of metals can lose electrons from valence shells to form cations while atoms of
non-metals can gain electrons in valence shell to form anions.
• Opposite charged ions attract each other and held by strong electrostatic forces of
attraction.
Ionic Compounds
• The compounds formed by the transfer of electrons from a metal to a non-metal are called
ionic compounds or electrovalent compounds.
General properties for ionic compounds—
(i) Physical nature: Ionic compounds are solids and are somewhat hard because of the strong
force of attraction between the positive and negative ions. These compounds are generally
brittle and break into pieces when pressure is applied.
(ii) Melting and Boiling points: Ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points. (This
is because a considerable amount of energy is required to break the strong inter-ionic attraction.
(iii) Solubility: Electrovalent compounds are generally soluble in water and insoluble in
solvents such as kerosene, petrol, etc.
(iv) Conduction of Electricity: The conduction of electricity through a solution involves the
movement of charged particles.
In solid state, Ionic compounds do not conduct electricity because movement of ions in
the solid is not possible due to their rigid structure. But ionic compounds conduct
electricity in the molten state because in the molten state the electrostatic forces of attraction
between the oppositely charged ions are overcome due to the heat. Thus, the ions move freely
and conduct electricity.
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Occurrence of Metals
Minerals: The elements or compounds which occur naturally in the earth’s crust are called
minerals.
Ores: Minerals that contain very high percentage of particular metal and the metal can be
profitably extracted from it, such minerals are called ores.
Metals on the basis of reactivity, can be grouped into three categories:
a. Metals of low reactivity (at the bottom of the activity series)
• Found in free state. e.g., Gold, silver, platinum and copper.
• These metals are very unreactive.
• The oxides of these metals can be reduced to metals by heating alone.
b. Metals of Medium Reactivity (in the middle of the activity series)
• They are found in the earth’s crust as oxides, sulphides and carbonates. e.g., Zn, Fe, Pb,
etc. The highly reactive metals are used as reducing agents because they can displace
metals of lower.
c. Metals of High reactivity (at the top of the activity series)
• They are not found in nature as free state. e.g., K, Na, Ca, Mg and Al.

Extraction of metals:
It is the process of obtaining pure metal from its ore. Extraction of metal can be classified into
three steps:
• Enrichment of ores or concentration of ores.
• Extraction of metal from the concentrated ores.
• Refining of metal. Steps involved in extraction
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Metallurgy:
The extraction of metals from their ores and then refining them for use is known as metallurgy.
Corrosion: It is the deterioration of a metal as a result of chemical reactions between it and
surrounding environment.
For example,
• Silver reacts with sulphur in air to form silver sulphide and articles become black.
• Copper reacts with moist carbon dioxide in air and forms green coat of copper
carbonate.
• Iron acquires a coating of brown flaky substance called rust.
• Rust is hydrated Iron (III) oxide, i.e., Fe2O3.xH2O
Prevention of corrosion: By painting, oiling, greasing, galvanizing and by making alloys.
Galvanization: It is the process which involves coating of iron with zinc. The oxide thus formed
is impervious to air and moisture thus protects further layers from getting corroded.
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Alloys: These are homogeneous mixture of metals with metals and non-metals.
For example,
• Stainless steel: Alloy of iron, nickel, chromium
• Brass: Alloy of copper and zinc
• Bronze: Alloy of copper and tin
• Solder: Alloy of lead and tin
• Amalgam: If one of the metals is mercury, then the alloy is called amalgam.
e.g., sodium amalgam and silver amalgam
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