Also, do divalent metals form ionic or covalent bonds?
There are three main categories of elements: metals, transition elements, and non metals. The metals are on the left side of the periodic table, the non metals on the right and the trans elements on a diagonal starting with Boron and heading down and right. A metal is defined as an element that loses its outer shell electrons in order to gain a full outer shell. These elements, when pure, are generally shiny (that's the spare electrons), conductive of electricity and hard and ductile (able to be drawn out tinto strands like copper is for household wiring). Most of the metals are in the Groups 1 to 3 of the Periodic Table. Non metals are the opposite; they gain electrons tom have a full outer shell and are located on the right of the PT. Metals and non-metals combine to form SALTS. This is all due to the core nuclear charge of the element, which is the same as the electronegativity of the element. This is affected by the number of electron shells an element has and the core charge felt in the outer shell from the nucleus. That's about as much info as I can give without going into a massive essay; you can see more details about elements and electron shells on my website (see below). Roger.
metal>shiny surface, malleable, good electricity conductor, good heat conductor eg: Cu, Zn, Pb, Fe, etc. etc. nonmetal> basically opposite of metal?xD
