Heavy metals elements and the more reactive of the d-block elements. They have a strong affinity for oxygen and mostly exist as relatively low density silicate minerals. Chalcophile heavy metals are mainly the less reactive d-block elements, and period 4–6 p-block metals and metalloids. They are usually found in (insoluble) sulfide minerals. Being denser than the lithophiles, hence sinking lower into the crust at the time of its solidification, the chalcophiles tend to be less abundant than the lithophiles. On the other hand, gold is a siderophile, or iron-loving element. It does not readily form compounds with either oxygen or sulfur. At
Heavy metals metals in form or appearance"). This suggestion was ignored; the new elements came to be recognised as metals, and the term metalloid was then used to refer to nonmetallic elements and, later, elements that were hard to describe as either metals or nonmetals. An early use of the term "heavy metal" dates from 1817, when the German chemist Leopold Gmelin divided the elements into nonmetals, light metals, and heavy metals. Light metals had densities of 0.860–5.0 g/cm; heavy metals 5.308–22.000. The term later became associated with elements of high atomic weight or high atomic number. It is sometimes used interchangeably