Transition metal

In chemistry, the term transition metal (sometimes also called a transition element) has two possible meanings:

Properties

Transition elements tend to have high tensile strength, density and melting and boiling points. As with many properties of transition metals, this is due to d orbital electrons' ability to delocalise within the metal lattice.

Related Topics:
Tensile strength - Density - Melting - Boiling - Delocalise

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In metallic substances, the more electrons shared between nuclei, the stronger the metal.

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There are four common characteristic properties of transition elements:

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• They form colored compounds
• They can have a variety of different oxidation states
• They are good catalysts
• They are silvery-blue at room temperature (except copper and gold)
• They are solids at room temperature (except mercury)
• They form complexes, which is described by crystal field theory.