Question

The best malleable metal is :
(A) aluminium
(B) silver
(C) gold
(D) lead

Answer 1

Hint: The malleability is property related to making of sheets. The best malleable metal is the one which is also used for making the jewellery. This is one of the most valuable metals. So, it even has a high cost. It is used to make ornaments. It is yellowish in colour.

Complete step by step solution:
Let us start with what is malleability.
The malleability is defined as the property of a substance to be hammered and beaten to thin sheets. This is characteristic of metals. The non-metals do not show the property of malleability.
And even in the metals, this property varies from element to element.
Among the options given to us, the best malleable metal is gold.
It has a face-centred cubic lattice which allows movement of dislocations in the lattice. The atoms in the metal can easily slide past each other. This results in the easy making of sheets.
The one gram of the gold can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter.

Thus, the option (C) is the correct answer.

Note: The gold is soft and most malleable metal in nature. It is alloyed with some other elements to improve its strength and durability. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity. The pure gold remains unaffected by air, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid etc. It has eight isotopes. It is a coinage metal. The gold powder and gold sheet are used for soldering of semiconductors. It is even used as the plating material.