Metals & Non-Metals — handwritten-style notes that actually stick in your head —
Everything from your NCERT chapter — written like your topper friend's notebook: simple words, colour-coded equations, every activity explained, all in-text questions solved, all 16 exercise questions solved, plus 6 playable mini-labs so you don't just read Chemistry — you do Chemistry.
What you'll master today
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Physical Properties
The "looks, touch & hammer" test!
Look around: the shine on your cycle's handle, the wires inside your charger, the bell in your school — all metals. Charcoal that crumbles, sulphur powder that smells — non-metals. Here is what your hands and eyes can detect — no chemicals needed yet!
- Lustrous — shine when freshly cut or polished (metallic lustre)
- Hard — mostly! But Na, K, Li are soft enough to cut with a knife
- Malleable — can be beaten into thin sheets (gold & silver are champions)
- Ductile — can be drawn into wires. From 1 g of gold → a wire ~2 km long!
- Good heat conductors — silver best, copper next. Poor: lead & mercury
- Good electricity conductors — Ag > Cu best ones
- Sonorous — make a ringing sound when struck (school bell!)
- State: solids at room temp.? No — mercury is liquid! High m.p. generally, but Ga & Cs melt on your palm
- Dull — no shine. Exceptions: iodine is lustrous, diamond & graphite glitter
- Brittle — break into powder when hammered (sulphur, coal). NOT malleable/ductile
- Non-sonorous — no ringing sound
- Poor conductors of heat & electricity. Exception: graphite conducts electricity!
- State: solids (S, C), gases (O₂, N₂) and the only liquid — bromine
- Plot twist: diamond (an allotrope of carbon) is the hardest natural substance known!
The shine on a freshly cut metal surface.
Can be beaten into thin sheets. (Think: aluminium foil)
Can be drawn into thin wires. (Think: copper cables)
Produces a ringing sound on striking. (Think: temple bell)
Exception Wall — examiners LOVE these. Tap to flip!
Conduction Tester — will my bulb glow?
Pick a material below and drop it between the two clips. Watch the circuit come alive!
Choose a material to test…
The Wax Pin Trick (Heat conduction)
Clamp a metal wire, stick a pin at its free end with wax, and heat the other end. The pin falls! Why? Heat travels through the metal and melts the wax. Try it with a plastic ruler — nothing happens.
Why is malleability SO useful?
- Foil wraps your sandwich (Al/Mg sheets)
- Car bodies are pressed steel sheets
- Ductility → copper wires in every plug
- Tungsten's ultra-high m.p. → bulb filaments
The Great Comparison Table (memorise this one!)
| Property | Metals | Non-Metals |
|---|---|---|
| Lustre | Shiny | Dull (except iodine, diamond, graphite) |
| Hardness | Generally hard (Na, K soft) | Soft / brittle (diamond is the exception king) |
| Malleability | Beaten into sheets | Break into pieces (brittle) |
| Ductility | Drawn into wires | No wires possible |
| Heat conduction | Good (Ag best) | Poor |
| Electricity | Good conductors | Insulators (except graphite) |
| Sound | Sonorous | Non-sonorous |
| State at r.t. | Solids (Hg = liquid) | All three states; bromine is liquid |
| Melting point | High (Ga, Cs very low) | Usually low (diamond very high) |
IN SHORT: If it's shiny, sheet-able, wire-able and rings a bell — it's a metal. If it crumbles, stays quiet and blocks electricity — it's a non-metal. Exceptions rule the exam!
Chemical Properties of Metals
Where the fizzing, burning and displacing begins!
When metals meet air: Metal + Oxygen → Metal oxide
Almost all metals react with oxygen to form metal oxides — but at very different speeds. Remember the magnesium ribbon from Chapter 1?
- K, Na — SO reactive they catch fire in open air → kept in kerosene oil
- Mg, Al, Zn, Pb — develop a thin oxide coat at room temperature
- Copper — doesn't burn but on heating gets a black CuO skin: 2Cu + O₂ → 2CuO
- Silver & Gold — no reaction even at high temperatures (that's why jewellery!)
Some metal oxides react with both acids AND bases — they are called amphoteric oxides. Stars: Al₂O₃ and ZnO.
Most metal oxides are insoluble in water. But a few dissolve to form alkalis (water-soluble bases):
Run a litmus test above… (connects to Activities 3.6–3.7 & Exercise Q9!)
Metal + Water → Metal hydroxide + Hydrogen ↑
Same reaction family, wildly different energy levels. Watch how the needs escalate — cold water → hot water → steam → nothing at all!
| Metal(s) | Water type | Drama level | Balanced equation |
|---|---|---|---|
| K, Na | Cold water | VIOLENT — catches fire! | 2Na + 2H₂O → 2NaOH + H₂↑ |
| Ca | Cold water | Energetic; Ca floats (H₂ bubbles stick!) | Ca + 2H₂O → Ca(OH)₂ + H₂↑ |
| Mg | Hot water | Slow in cold, fast in hot; floats too | Mg + 2H₂O → Mg(OH)₂ + H₂↑ |
| Al, Zn, Fe | Steam only | Need red-hot + steam | 3Fe + 4H₂O(g) → Fe₃O₄ + 4H₂↑ |
| Pb, Cu, Ag, Au | — | NO reaction at all | — |
Metal + Dilute acid → Salt + Hydrogen ↑
Bring a burning splinter near the gas → a sharp 'pop' sound = hydrogen confirmed! Rate order: Mg > Al > Zn > Fe, while Cu doesn't react with dilute HCl at all.
HNO₃ is a strong oxidising agent — it oxidises the H₂ produced into water, so normally NO H₂ gas comes out. Only Mg and Mn evolve H₂ with very dilute HNO₃.
Freshly prepared mixture of concentrated HCl : concentrated HNO₃ = 3 : 1. It dissolves even gold and platinum! Remember the 'goldsmith' in Exercise Q15? This was his secret potion.
Musical chairs of metals: Stronger metal kicks out the weaker one
Rule: A more reactive metal displaces a less reactive metal from its salt solution. Example from Activity 3.11 — iron nail dipped in copper sulphate:
1) Pick a metal strip 2) Pick a solution beaker → drop & observe. Try predicting BEFORE you look!
In-Text Questions · page 46
How Metals & Non-Metals React
The great electron give-and-take deal!
Atoms are happiest with 8 electrons in their outer shell — the octet (like the noble gases, the 'settled' atoms). Metals hold a few loose electrons and love to donate them; non-metals are nearly-full and love to grab them. When they trade, both become stable ions, and opposite charges clamp together — that's an ionic (electrovalent) bond; the product is an ionic compound.
- 1Mg (2,8,2) loses 2 e⁻ → Mg²⁺ (now 2,8 — stable!)
- 2O (2,6) gains those 2 e⁻ → O²⁻ (now 2,8 — stable!)
- 3Mg²⁺ + O²⁻ attract → MgO (ionic compound)
One Mg atom's 2 spare electrons are split between two chlorine atoms:
- • Mg (2,8,2) → Mg²⁺ + 2e⁻
- • Each Cl (2,8,7) + 1e⁻ → Cl⁻ (2,8,8)
- • Result: MgCl₂ — one Mg²⁺ holding two Cl⁻
Formula MgCl₂, NOT MgCl! Charge balance: 2+ cancels 2×(1−).
Properties of Ionic Compounds
Solid & hard because of strong ionic attraction; generally brittle — shatter when hammered.
Huge energy needed to break the strong inter-ionic forces. (NaCl m.p. ≈ 801°C!)
Soluble in water; insoluble in kerosene, petrol & other organic solvents.
NO conduction in solid state (ions locked!). YES in molten state or water solution — ions move freely.
The Reactivity Series
the cheat-code of this chapter!Every reaction above whispered the same story: some metals try much harder than others. Line them up from most to least reactive and you get the reactivity series — it predicts storage rules, displacement, extractions… basically half this chapter!
(H is not a metal — it's the reference line. Metals above H react with dilute acids releasing H₂; metals below H don't.)
"Please Send Cats, Monkeys And Zebras Into Large Hot Cages Made Silver & Gold"
Rebuild the series: click elements from most → least reactive. 13 slots. No timer — just brain.
Top gang (K, Na) attacks air & water → stored in kerosene. Bottom gang (Au, Ag) → chill anywhere.
Higher metal kicks lower metal out of its salt solution. Cu+AgNO₃ works; Ag+CuSO₄ never will.
Position in the series decides the extraction method: heating / carbon reduction / electrolysis. Up next!
Occurrence of Metals
Metals hide inside the earth's crust as compounds (oxides, sulphides, carbonates…). Only the super-lazy ones — gold, platinum (sometimes silver & copper) — are found free (native state), because they just refuse to react.
Naturally occurring element/compound in the earth's crust.
Mineral from which a metal can be extracted profitably & conveniently. All ores are minerals; not all minerals are ores!
Useless impurities — sand, soil, rocky material — stuck to the ore. Removing it = enrichment of ore.
Extracting by reactivity — 3 ladders
These give up so easily, just heating in air releases the metal.
Ores are usually oxides / sulphides / carbonates. Trick: first convert to oxide, then reduce with carbon (coke).
Heated strongly in excess of air.
Heated strongly with limited / no air.
Their oxides hold on too tightly for carbon. So we use electricity — electrolytic reduction of molten compounds.
- • At cathode (−): Na⁺ + e⁻ → Na (metal!)
- • At anode (+): 2Cl⁻ → Cl₂ + 2e⁻ (chlorine gas out)
- • Al₂O₃ is dissolved in molten cryolite — lowers the melting point & improves conduction
- • At cathode: Al³⁺ + 3e⁻ → Al (liquid metal collected at bottom)
- • Oxygen at the carbon anode slowly burns it away → anode needs regular replacement
Even extracted metal carries impurities. Refining setup (remember this for Exercise Q8!):
- Anode: a thick block of impure metal
- Cathode: a thin strip of pure metal
- Electrolyte: salt solution of the metal (e.g., acidified CuSO₄ for copper)
Impure metal dissolves from the anode and pure metal deposits on the cathode. Insoluble junk falls below the anode — the famous ANODE MUD (it even contains silver & gold!).
In-Text Questions · page 55
Corrosion
the slow eat-away villainWhen a metal is attacked by substances around it — moisture, acids, etc. — the surface slowly gets eaten away. That's corrosion. It weakens bridges, gates and tools every year.
Brown flaky rust = hydrated iron(III) oxide, Fe₂O₃·xH₂O
Turns black: silver sulphide Ag₂S (reacts with sulphur in air)
Basic copper carbonate CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂ — that greenish layer on old roofs
Three identical nails, three different worlds. Press "Next day" and see which nail actually rusts!
normal water, open tube
boiled distilled water + oil layer
dry air + anhydrous CaCl₂ (drying agent)
- Tube A: heavy orange-brown RUST — it had both air and moisture
- Tube B: shiny! No air could dissolve in boiled water (oil layer blocked it)
- Tube C: shiny! CaCl₂ absorbed all moisture — no water to rust with
CONCLUSION: Rusting needs both air (oxygen) AND moisture (water). Remove either one — no rust!
Fighting back: Corrosion Prevention
A barrier coat that cuts off air & water. Gates, machines, bicycle chains.
Coating iron with a thin layer of zinc. Zinc sacrifices itself — used on taps, buckets, iron sheets. (Exercise Q2!)
Chrome plating, tinning, anodising aluminium (thick protective Al₂O₃ coat).
Tweak the metal itself! Iron + Cr + Ni → stainless steel, which simply refuses to rust.
Alloys — Teamwork Metals
An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more metals (or a metal + small amount of non-metal), made by melting and mixing. Pure metals are often too soft or too reactive — alloys fix their weaknesses like super-teams.
| Alloy | Ingredients | Star property / use |
|---|---|---|
| Steel | Iron + a little carbon | Hard & strong — construction, tools (pure iron is soft!) |
| Stainless steel | Iron + nickel + chromium | Does NOT rust — surgical tools, kitchen utensils |
| Brass | Copper + zinc | Taps, musical instruments, door handles |
| Bronze | Copper + tin | Statues, medals, bells (brass = Zn, bronze = Sn — classic confusion!) |
| Solder | Lead + tin | Very low melting point — perfect for joining electrical wires |
| Amalgam | Any metal + mercury | Any alloy containing Hg is an amalgam (old dental fillings) |
Pure gold = 24 carat — so soft it can't hold a shape. Jewellery gold is 22 carat: 22 parts gold + 2 parts copper or silver mixed in. That's an alloy working silently around your neck!
NCERT Lab Diary — all 14 activities in one glance
Your copy's "Activity" margin-notes, pre-written. Great for 2-mark viva style questions.
NCERT Exercise — All 16 Solved
Rule of the gym: try with a pen FIRST, then unlock the answer!
Which of the following pairs will give displacement reactions?
(a) NaCl solution and copper metal (b) MgCl₂ solution and aluminium metal (c) FeSO₄ solution and silver metal (d) AgNO₃ solution and copper metal
In (a), (b), (c) the free metal (Cu, Al, Ag) is weaker than the metal in the solution (Na, Mg, Fe) → no displacement possible. (You even tested this combo in the Displacement Lab above!)
Which of the following methods is suitable for preventing an iron frying pan from rusting? (a) Applying grease (b) Applying paint (c) Applying a coating of zinc (d) All of the above
A cooking pan is used daily — grease and paint would wear off and mix into food (unsafe!). Zinc coating is durable and zinc is more reactive, so it protects iron first.
An element reacts with oxygen to give a compound with a high melting point. This compound is also soluble in water. The element is likely to be — (a) calcium (b) carbon (c) silicon (d) iron
High melting point → ionic compound; soluble in water → like alkalis. Ca + O₂ → CaO (ionic, high m.p.), and CaO reacts with water (Ca(OH)₂). Carbon oxides are gases; SiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ have high m.p. but are NOT soluble in water.
Food cans are coated with tin and not with zinc because — (a) zinc is costlier than tin (b) zinc has a higher melting point than tin (c) zinc is more reactive than tin (d) zinc is less reactive than tin
Food often contains acids. Highly reactive zinc would react with food acids and contaminate the food. Tin is less reactive, so it stays inert and just protects the can from air/water.
You are given a hammer, a battery, a bulb, wires and a switch. (a) How could you use them to distinguish between samples of metals and non-metals? (b) Assess the usefulness of these tests.
- Hammer test: Strike the sample. Metal flattens into a sheet (malleable); non-metal breaks into pieces/powder (brittle).
- Circuit test: Connect sample in series with battery + bulb + switch. Bulb glows → metal (conductor); doesn't glow → non-metal.
What are amphoteric oxides? Give examples of two amphoteric oxides.
Name two metals which will displace hydrogen from dilute acids, and two metals which will not.
Rule: only metals more reactive than hydrogen can push it out of dilute acids.
In the electrolytic refining of a metal M, what would you take as the anode, the cathode and the electrolyte?
- Anode: block of impure metal M
- Cathode: thin strip of pure metal M
- Electrolyte: water-soluble salt solution of M (e.g., acidified CuSO₄ solution if M is copper)
M dissolves at the anode and deposits pure at the cathode; insoluble impurities settle as anode mud. Diagram is in Section 3.4 above.
Pratyush took sulphur powder on a spatula and heated it. He collected the gas evolved by inverting a test tube over it. (a) What will be the action of the gas on (i) dry litmus paper (ii) moist litmus paper? (b) Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction taking place.
- (i) Dry litmus paper: No change. Dry gas alone can't show acidity.
- (ii) Moist litmus paper: Turns blue litmus RED — with moisture, SO₂ forms sulphurous acid.
(You simulated this exact test in the Litmus Mini-Lab in 3.2!)
State two ways to prevent the rusting of iron.
- Applying paint / oil / grease on the surface — blocks contact with air and moisture.
- Galvanisation — coating iron with a layer of zinc.
More options: chrome plating, plastic coating, making stainless steel.
What type of oxides are formed when non-metals combine with oxygen?
Give reasons: (a) Platinum, gold and silver are used to make jewellery. (b) Sodium, potassium and lithium are stored under oil. (c) Aluminium is a highly reactive metal, yet it is used to make utensils for cooking. (d) Carbonate and sulphide ores are usually converted into oxides during extraction.
(a) Pt, Au, Ag are least reactive (noble) — they don't corrode or tarnish easily, keep their shine forever, and are highly malleable/ductile → perfect for jewellery.
(b) They react so vigorously with air (oxygen) and moisture that they can catch fire. Oil (kerosene) cuts off contact → safe storage.
(c) Aluminium instantly forms a hard, non-reactive protective oxide layer (Al₂O₃) that stops further reaction. Plus: good conductor of heat, light & cheap → ideal utensils.
(d) It is easier to reduce a metal OXIDE to metal (just heat with carbon) than to reduce sulphides/carbonates directly. So ores are first roasted (sulphides) or calcined (carbonates) into oxides.
Tarnished copper vessels are cleaned with lemon or tamarind juice. Explain why these sour substances are effective.
Differentiate between metal and non-metal on the basis of their chemical properties.
| Chemical property | Metals | Non-metals |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of oxides | Basic (some amphoteric, e.g. Al₂O₃, ZnO) | Acidic or neutral |
| Reaction with dilute acids | Displace hydrogen → salt + H₂ (reactive ones) | Generally no reaction / no H₂ displaced |
| Reaction with water | Reactive metals form hydroxide/oxide + H₂ | Usually no reaction with water |
| Electrons | Lose e⁻ → positive ions (electropositive) | Gain e⁻ → negative ions (electronegative) |
A "goldsmith" promised to make dull gold bangles glitter again. He dipped them in a solution; the bangles sparkled like new but their weight reduced drastically. Can you find the nature of the solution he had used?
Aqua regia is one of the few things that dissolves gold. The outer dirty layer came off (sparkle!) — but a thin layer of gold also dissolved into the solution (weight loss!). The goldsmith later recovered gold from the solution. Case closed, detective!
Give reasons why copper is used to make hot water tanks and not steel (an alloy of iron).
(1) Copper is an excellent conductor of heat → water heats quickly & evenly; steel conducts heat poorly.
(2) Copper does not react with cold water, hot water or steam, so it doesn't corrode in the tank. Steel is mostly iron, which rusts in contact with hot water/steam.
Verdict: copper tanks heat faster AND live longer.
Rapid Revision Kit — night-before-exam edition
Equation Bank (all key ones, balanced!)
Exam Traps — scored remembered, forgotten lost!
- With steam, Fe/Al/Zn give oxides + H₂, not hydroxides
- HNO₃ gives NO H₂ normally (except Mg, Mn with very dilute)
- Only graphite conducts (non-metal); only iodine shines
- Aqua regia ratio = HCl : HNO₃ = 3 : 1 (not 1:3)
- Brass = Cu+Zn — Bronze = Cu+Sn (Zn↔Sn swap!)
- Roasting needs air, calcination limits air
Word Bank (tap any term to unfold its one-liner)
Boss Level Quiz — 10 questions, all NCERT heart
Ready, Booster?
10 board-style MCQs · instant explanations · unlimited retries. Answer everything from memory — no peeking up!
Scored 10/10? You officially own Chapter 3. Tell your teacher!