At that moment, when mankind learned to receive metals from ore and process them, a new round of technological progress began, which continues to this day. If before the advent of plastic back in 1835, the main durable materials that were available to people were metals and wood, now plastics have been added to the list. However, it is impossible to imagine an area where metals and their alloys would not be used. We can say that progress in its existing form was made possible precisely thanks to them.
It is understandable that the physical and chemical properties of metals have been very well studied. Now everyone is familiar with the main ones. In this paper, we consider in detail the general physical properties of metals. However, in order not to confuse the two terms, we give a short list of what exactly is understood by chemical properties.
First of all, it is the ability of metals to interact with gases, water and other substances. This also includes solubility. All this determines the oxidizability, corrosion resistance, etc.
The physical properties of metals are represented by electrical conductivity, density, magnetic permeability, heat capacity, as well as coloring, ductility, etc. The full list is quite large, therefore it is not given here. We list only the basic physical properties of metals.
Imagine a situation: winter, cold. There are two shops on the street - wooden and metal. Which one is colder? Even a child knows that metal. However, the air temperature is the same; therefore, the term “cold” is not applicable in this case. What causes a feeling of cold? Physical properties of metals. In particular, thermal conductivity and heat capacity. Due to the structural features of the atomic crystal lattice, metals consume thermal energy much faster, while warming evenly. This property makes it easy to make joints by welding or soldering.
It is known that some metals require high temperatures to melt, while others can be melted literally in the hands. For example, sodium metal goes into liquid form already at 100 degrees (a little less), so anyone can feel like a metallurgist. Its opposite is tungsten (incandescent filaments are made from it), which melts at 3400 degrees.
Of course, the physical properties of metals are not limited to this. Imagine what you need to do and install a metal door. Exact adjustment of dimensions without a “margin” will lead to the fact that in the hot season due to linear thermal expansion, the door cannot be closed (or opened). Accordingly, with decreasing temperature, the dimensions of the product will slightly decrease by a factor F. All these points must be taken into account.
Metals are of great importance for electrical engineering. Of these, almost everything is done: from conductors to enclosures of electrical equipment. For the production of wires, copper and aluminum are used, since they are the ones that have the least resistance to the passage of charged particles. It is worth noting that the best characteristics of gold and silver, however, due to the high cost of these metals they are used to a limited extent. An interconnected property is electrical resistance. Heating spirals, incandescent threads, etc. are made from these materials. Representatives of this group of metals are tungsten and nichrome (alloy).
One of the most important elements of electrical circuits is an inductor. It is enough to introduce a core of soft magnetic material into it, as the operating mode changes dramatically. This is due to the magnetization of the metal.
The required characteristics can be obtained from the product only if the physical properties of the metal used are known.