And do metals, metalloids, and non-metals have something in common.
No, most metals are extracted from rocks. A few metals are taken from dirt and loose rock in placer deposits. But none of them are made from earth and rocks.
Its in rocks but its not rock
Do you mean steel? Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight, depending on grade. Additionally, alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. I can think of native metals that aren't rock, native copper comes to mind.
I`m no pro but I`m pretty sure that most metal is collected from deposits in the earth, and then fused together by whatever means (melting, pressing...?) It doesn`t come in sheets, that`s for sure :) I remember doing a project in school where we collected a bunch of soil from the schoolyard and then tried to find and identify types of metals in the soil. A metal is essentially an element, right?... so ya it must be fused together after a large sum of it has been collected
Yes, all metals occur naturally in the earth and its materials. However, it is rare to find a metal just sitting there in its native (pure) form. Copper is about the only metal I have ever seen that exists in places as metallic copper in amounts that make it easy to just pick up and use. Gold is sometimes found as nuggets or in its pure state, but is very rare to find that way and usually requires a lot of work to collect.. Metals are more commonly found as oxides, sulfides, or carbonates that have to be mined, concentrated, and purified (smelted). Metals also exist as parts of many silicate minerals and as secondary elements in other non-metal bearing minerals. Recovering metals into their pure forms for use can be technologically complicated and sometimes expensive, even where the metal occurs in very rich deposits. Normal metal concentrations in earth materials are so low that it isn't worth the cost and effort to collect and purify. Although it would be possible to mine the soil of your back yard and smelt out some iron (for example), the amount you would collect would not be worth all the effort. You wouldn't get much and it would cost you a lot of money, a lot more money than the iron you got would be worth.
