Element X Melts To React With Hydrochloric Acid

2. Element X melts in boiling water, it fails to react with hydrochloric acid; and 1 cm3 of element X has a mass of 1.8 grams. Is element X a metal or non-metal? Give the reasons for your answer. Element X is most likely a typical non-metal. First of all, element X melts in boiling water; non-metals typically have low melting and boiling points. Furthermore, element X is unable to react with hydrochloric acid. This greatly indicates that element X is a non-metal as most non-metals fail to react with hydrochloric or dilute acids. In order for a substance to react with an acid, it has to provide electrons to the H+ ions produced by the acids. Generally, non-metals themselves are acceptors of electrons. This is why non-metals generally
Zinc (metal) and sulfur (non metal) were analyzed through various tests were conducted for both elements. For the conductivity test, it was discovered that zinc was a good conductor of electricity while sulfur was a poor conductor. For the lustre test, zinc possessed metallic lustre and sulfur had a dull appearance. For the malleability test, zinc was malleable/flexible and sulfur was brittle. For the melting point test, zinc had a higher melting point compared to sulfur. For the reactivity test, zinc visibly reacted with Hydrochloric acid and sulfur did not. The mass, volume, and density of zinc was higher compared to those of sulfur. Through these tests, the common properties of a metal were concluded to be: good conductor of electricity, lustrous, malleable, reactive with acid, higher mass, volume, and density for size. The common properties of a non metal were concluded to be: poor conductor of electricity, dull, brittle, non reactive with acid, lower mass, volume, and density for size. A future experiment might include additional types of metals and non-metals as well as extra tests such as a sonorous test to further extend on the common properties of metals and