metals are mostly solids, liquid or gas at room temperature.
are metals mostly solid liquid or gas at room temperature?
solids
while the london dispersion force between individual atoms and molecules is quite weak and decreases quickly with separation ("r") like formula_1, in condensed matter (liquids and solids), the effect is cumulative over the volume of materials,or within and between organic molecules, such that london dispersion forces can be quite strong in bulk solid and liquids and decays much more slowly with distance. for example, the total force per unit area between two bulk solids decreases like formula_2 where "r" is the separation between them. the effects of london dispersion forces are most obvious in systems that are very non-polar (e.g., that lack ionic bonds), such as hydrocarbons and highly symmetric molecules such as bromine (bra liquid at room temperature), iodine (i a solid at room temperature). in hydrocarbons and waxes the dispersion forces are sufficient to cause condensation from the gas phase into the liquid or solid phase. sublimation heats of e.g. hydrocarbon crystals reflect the dispersion interaction. liquification of oxygen and nitrogen gases into liquid phases is also dominated by attractive london dispersion forces.
london dispersion force
gold, copper, rubidium, caesium, or barium atoms evaporated into liquid helium form spider web like structures. rhenium produces nano flakes. molybdenum, tungsten, and niobium produce thin nanowires with diameters of 20, 25 and 40 å. when platinum, molybdenum or tungsten is evaporated into liquid helium, nanoclusters are first formed, accompanied by high temperature thermal emission pulse, above the melting point of the metals. in superfluid helium, these clusters migrate to the vortices and weld together to yield nanowires once the clusters are mostly solid. in higher temperature liquid helium, larger clusters of metal are formed instead of wires. the metal vapours can only penetrate about 0.5 mm into liquid helium. indium, tin, lead and nickel produce nanowires about 80 å in diameter. these same four metals also produce smooth spheres about 2 μm across that explode when examined with an electron microscope. copper, permalloy, and bismuth also make nanowires.
helium compounds