Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Molecules from Metals, Metallic? 
Name: Enrico
Status: student
Grade: 12+
Country: USA
Date: Spring 2009
Question:
Are molecules made solely from metallic sources also metallic in their characteristic?


Replies:
Without going into all the reasons why, the short answer is no. Intermetallic compounds may be metallic, i.e. conduct electricity, semi-conductors, or insulators. Things get even more complicated because these characteristics can be a function of temperature, exact composition, and pressure (or all three). A detailed response is just too large for a forum such as NEWTON.

Vince Calder

Hi Enrico,

If you are asking about molecules made solely of metallic atoms, I cannot answer your question, because I cannot think of any molecules that consist of only of atoms of true metals. Perhaps you could quote an example of such a molecule?

Regards,
Bob Wilson


Click here to return to the Material Science Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory