8 Weird and Wonderful Facts About the Properties of Metals

Metals are something most of us give little thought to, but when you study them closely, they’re fascinating. They also extend much further than most people realize. Did you know that about 75% of the elements on the periodic table are metals?

Metals affect our lives on a daily basis, from the Earth we live on to the jewelry we wear. But to get metals to perform the functions we now use them for, chemists had to figure out how each metal acts.

In the course of this research, they’ve discovered some fascinating facts about the properties of metals. To boost your knowledge about metals and their fun quirks, check out the list below.

Fun Facts About the Properties of Metals

Throw all your preconceived notions about metal out the window. These types of elements are far more varied (and far weirder) than you think. We’ve found eight of the most fascinating facts about metals and their properties.

1. Stainless Steel Produces an Anti-Stain Coating

Stainless steel is one of the most popular metals in homes and commercial buildings. Have you ever wondered where its name came from, though?

As the name suggests, stainless steel is resistant to corrosion and rust. The interesting part, though, is that this isn’t some protective coating applied in a factory. It’s actually a natural property of the metal itself.

As the experts at Independent Metal Strap explain, stainless steel is an alloy that contains a certain amount of chromium. The chromium forms a protective shield of chromium oxide around the outside of the metal, keeping corrosion at bay. It may not prevent it 100%, but it makes corrosion and staining far less likely to appear.

2. Not All Metals at Solid at Room Temperature

Most people know that you can turn metals into liquid when you melt them (though this takes extreme amounts of heat). But not all metals need to be melted to be liquid.

Mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. The only way to make mercury a solid is by freezing it.

However, it’s worth noting that not all metals have sky-high melting temperatures. For instance, galladium can melt from the warmth of your hand. We’ll discuss another crazy property of galladium later in this article.

3. Some Metals Can Be Cut with a Knife

You might be thinking, “Okay, mercury is a liquid, but the rest of the metals are hard and strong.” Not exactly.

We think of all metals as being difficult to bend. But there’s a group of metals called alkali metals that are so soft they can be cut with a knife. Potassium and sodium are in this group. Yes, you read that right: technically potassium and sodium are metals.

4. Gallium Beats Like a Heart

Most people think of metals as rather solid, stable forms. For the most part, this is true, but some metals have intriguing reactions to different actions or combinations.

Gallium is a fascinating metal. When it comes into contact with a certain combination of sulfuric acid and dichromatic solution, it actually starts pulsating like a beating heart!

Gallium also has the unique talent of weakening certain other metals. For instance, if you place a drop of gallium onto an aluminum soda can, it slowly turns the can into a soft, tearable material. The gallium penetrates the metal of the can, softening and damaging it.

5. Ruthenium May Cause Eternal Flames

This discovery is still being validated, but it’s too fascinating for us to exclude from this list.

There’s a place in Turkey called Yanartas. This landmark has several fires that burn from vents in the rocky ground. While it looks cool that the fires appear to be burning from nowhere, the fascinating part is that these fires have been burning for at least 2500 years!

While we know it’s methane that’s actually burning, this puzzled scientists because methane normally needs hotter temperatures in order to form naturally. However, they recently found ruthenium under the rocks, and they believe this is causing the methane to form, contributing to these seemingly eternal fires.

6. The Earth is Made of Iron and Aluminum

Clearly, these aren’t the only elements that make up the Earth, but it’s surprising that they’re as abundant as they are.

The Earth’s core is largely made of iron, which isn’t incredibly shocking. It is unexpected, though, that aluminum is the most plentiful metal in the Earth’s crust.

Because there’s so much iron in the Earth’s core, though, iron is the most common metal in the planet.

7. Some Metals Explode When Touched by Water

We mentioned alkali metals earlier, and how many of them are so soft they can be cut with a knife. The quirkiness of these metals doesn’t end there, though. They’re truly weird creations of nature.

Alkali metals can actually explode when they come into contact with water. For this reason, alkali metals are stored very carefully and need to be handled with caution by experienced professionals.

For your safety, avoid water if you’re ever in contact with potassium, sodium, rubidium, francium, or cesium.

8. The Definition of Metal isn’t Cut-and-Dried

You might have an idea of what a metal should look like and how it should act. In order for an element to be considered a metal, it needs to meet a certain amount of criteria.

Specifically, an element needs to conduct electricity, have luster, be malleable, and easily lose electrons to become positively charged. However, many of the other elements on the periodic table are considered “semimetals” or “metalloids.” This means they have some characteristics of metals, but not all of them.

The Fascinating World Around You

These amazing facts about the properties of metals are just a few of the incredible things that happen in nature without us ever realizing it. Educating yourself more about our plant can be fun, but it also helps to connect you with the world you live in.

For more great facts check out our gallery of other natural and man-made weirdness.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?