METALLOID

Metalloid

A metalloid is a chemical element that has properties that are in between or a mixture of those of metals and nonmetals and is consequently difficult to classify unambiguously as either a metal or a nonmetal. There is no standard definition of a metalloid, nor is there agreement as to which elements are appropriately classified as such. Despite this lack of specificity the term remains in use in chemistry literature.

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metalloid

Noun

  1. An element, such as silicon or germanium, intermediate in properties between that of a metal and a nonmetal; especially one that exhibits the external characteristics of a metal, but behaves chemically more as a nonmetal.
  2. The metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; applied to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: metalloid
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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