Post-Transition Metal

Alkaline Earth Metals

A soft, bluish-white metallic element that occurs mainly in zinc, copper, and lead ores, that is simply cut with a knife and is used in low-friction, fatigue-resistant alloys, solders, dental amalgams, nickel-cadmium storage batteries, nuclear reactor shields, and in rustproof electroplating. Its atomic number is 48, atomic weight is 112.41, melting point is 320.9?C, boiling point is 765?C, specific gravity is 8.65 & valence is 2..

Properties

The poor metals or the post-transition metals comprise the lower elements of group IIIA (13), IVA (14), and VA (15), arranged in a staircase similar to fashion. There properties have the same association to the alkaline earth metals as the alkaline earth metals have to the alkali metals. These metals in group IIIA (13) are like aluminum, gallium, indium, and thallium. The metals in group IVA (14) such as tin and lead, and the metal in group VA (15) is bismuth. As you go up the group, their metallic character gets less and lesser. For instance: boron, which is over aluminum in group IIIA (13), is not a metal but a metalloid.