Talk:Metal

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I don't want to start an edit war, but some of the alkali metals can be cut with a knife, which means they are soft. The reason why usually high melting-points is necessary is mercury, rubidium, gallium, and cesium are all liquid at or near room temperature. While the concept of high MP or low MP differs, everyone on the planet would agree that these are low in comparison to the melting points of other metals (eg. tungsten). Mercury's melting point is below 0C. All people would agree that that is low.

What metal oxides are basic? Most metal oxides are completely inert. Al2O3, SiO2, TiO, etc. Metal hydroxides are basic (NaOH, KOH), sure, but that's an entirely different animal.

Eric 22:34, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I just want to add a little more about acidic/basic properties of metal oxides. Some metal oxides in their highest oxidation state are far not inert being extremely aggressive oxidizers (dangerous in handling!) and definitely acidic because they produce pH < 7 when mixed with water (or willingly soluble in alkali) e. g., CrO3, MoO3, WO3, V2O5, Mn2O7 unlike those of low oxidation state, which are neutral or even somewhat basic like TiO and PbO soluble in sulfuric acid. From another hand, TiO2 and Pb3O4 are soluble in molten NaOH. Thus, yes, basicity/acidity conception is hardly helpful for definition of what metals are, though nevertheless, it is true: most of metal oxides in their low oxidation states are basic or amphoteric. In general, the higher group number of an element in Periodic Table the less basic is the corresponding oxide. {Nick Moskalev, September 25, 2005}

Contents 1 metal forming 2 Precious metals - Plutonium and uranium 3 History/prehistory of metals? 4 Stupid?

[edit] metal forming

How is metal processed in a way to punch a hole and then thread it, with hole boed in the direction of how the hole was made?

[edit] Precious metals - Plutonium and uranium

Regarding the statement: "Plutonium and uranium could also be considered precious metals." Why could plutonium and uranium be considered precious metals? That's doesn't appear to be explained in the article. -- Iotha 17:18, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History/prehistory of metals?

In my personal opinion the article badly needs some short words at least about the history & prehistory of metals and how they were discovered. Anyone? -- Cimon Avaro; on a pogostick. 15:23, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't that go under metallurgy? Or perhaps this article needs summary sections on mining, ore, metallurgy and applications of metal? — RJH (talk) 22:26, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stupid?

As soon as I saw the phrase "metal is stupid" at the very beginning of the article, I assumed I misread it. When I confirmed that it did indeed say "metal is stupid," I then assumed it was vandalism. However, I don't know anything about chemistry (See: Soviet education system) so if the word "stupid" has some other meaning in chemistry, I would have no way of knowing or refuting it. Could someone that actually has some amount of knowledge on this subject confirm whether this is or is not vandalism or a typo or what-have-you?MVMosin 01:51, 4 April 2007 (UTC)