Construction inflation. Building costs throughout 2011 rose steadily and although theyâre expected to stabilise during 2012 inflationary pressures are nevertheless set to remain as labour wage strains and competitive labour forces continue to affect input costs.
Physical Properties. Metals differ so widely in hardness, ductility (the potentiality of being drawn into wire), malleability, tensile strength, density, and melting point that a definite line of distinction between them and the nonmetals cannot be drawn. The hardest elemental metal is chromium; the softest, cesium.
Most metals have many physical properties in common. For example, they are shiny silvery-grey solids with high melting points and boiling points, high density, good conductors of heat and electricity, malleable (easily bent or beaten into any shape) and ductile (strong enough to be drawn into wire). Metals may or may not react with oxygen, water or acid.