Foundation reading 1 of 17 · ~4 min

Find metals, nonmetals and metalloids

Your goal: Locate the main element categories without learning orbital notation.

A focused reading from Metals, Nonmetals and Metalloids. Reading time is a Chem Help estimate.

Optional prerequisite review

Review if useful. These suggestions never lock a step.

The staircase divides the table

A stepped line runs from boron down to astatine. Elements to the left are metals, elements to the right are nonmetals, and the elements touching the line (B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te, and often At) are metalloids.

Hydrogen is a nonmetal despite sitting in group 1.

Metals make up roughly three quarters of the table, so nonmetal is the shorter list to memorise.

Sources and further reading

  • Chemistry 2e, Section 10.5: The Solid State of Matter
    OpenStax · Rice University · 10.5
    View source

    Lesson-specific rights and provenance need review.

    The current online Chemistry 2e edition lists CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The source version used for this lesson and its applicable rights remain unverified.

    Recorded use: further reading. This describes the stored citation, not verified authorship or reuse permission.

    Recorded attribution / license claim (applicability unverified): CC BY 4.0

    Source rights and review status

    Citation coverage needs review: This broad solid-state reference does not establish provenance for every element-classification statement.