Metals and Non-metalsIntroduction
Sunday morning at Riya's home. Dadi is making parathas on an iron tawa, the pressure cooker hissing on the next burner is aluminium, and the water for the puja waits in a copper lota. Outside, the istriwala heats his iron on glowing coal, and the matchbox on the shelf has heads tipped with sulphur.
In Class IX you learnt that elements can be grouped as metals or non-metals by their properties. Without opening a book, you already know which is which for most of the things in this kitchen.
Sort the elements hiding in Riya's kitchen. Drag each one into its bucket.
Easy? Now ask yourself how you knew. Probably because metals look shiny, bend instead of breaking, and get hot quickly on the stove — and because those properties are exactly what makes them useful as tawas, cookers and lotas. Those are properties, and in this chapter we will test every one of them. Some elements will break the rules you just used, so keep your eyes open.
You will compare the physical properties of metals and non-metals, watch metals react with air, water, acids and each other's salts, see how metals and non-metals join by giving and taking electrons, follow a metal from its ore to a pure bar, and find out why iron rusts — and how we stop it.