Nonmetal inconsistently classified by different authors. Elements sometimes also classified as nonmetals are the metalloids boron (B), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te), and astatine (At). The nonmetal selenium (Se) is sometimes instead classified as a metalloid, particularly in environmental chemistry. Nonmetals show more variability in their properties than do metals. These properties are largely determined by the interatomic bonding strengths and molecular structures of the nonmetals involved, both of which are subject to variation as the number of valence electrons in each nonmetal varies. Metals, in contrast, have more homogenous structures and their properties are more
Period 5 element diverse functions of the remainder of the enzymes, molybdenum is a required element for life in higher organisms (eukaryotes), though not in all bacteria. Technetium, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, tin, and antimony have no biological role. Although cadmium has no known biological role in higher organisms, a cadmium-dependent carbonic anhydrase has been found in marine diatoms. Indium has no biological role and can be toxic as well as Antimony. Tellurium has no biological role, although fungi can incorporate it in place of sulfur and selenium into amino acids such as tellurocysteine and telluromethionine. In humans, tellurium is partly metabolized into