Is Cobalt a Metal, Nonmetal or Metalloid?
Cobalt (Co) is a metal — a typical hard metal: lustrous, malleable, an excellent conductor, and famous for colourful compounds and variable valency. It sits in group 9, period 4, and is a solid at room temperature.
Looking for Cobalt's metal or nonmetal without wading through a whole chapter? Here is the direct answer first, then the tables and derivations examiners want to see. Every number on this page comes from the same engine that powers the interactive table. Need the whole picture instead — history, characteristics, uses, exam questions? The full Cobalt page is one click away.
The one-line answer, with reasons
Cobalt is a metal. Chemists decide by behaviour, not appearance: metals (like Cobalt) give up electrons, shine when freshly cut, and conduct heat and electricity; nonmetals take or share electrons and (as solids) break rather than bend. Cobalt checks every metal box — placed in the transition metal family of the table.
Cobalt's metal/nonmetal report card
| Property | Value | Typical of |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Transition metal | — |
| Phase at room temp | solid | metals are usually solid |
| Block | d-block | — |
| Group | 9 | — |
| Period | 4 | — |
The family it belongs to
The whole transition metal family shares one seating area of the table, and every member's family ID card is one click away — compare Cobalt with its upstairs or downstairs neighbour and the family pattern jumps out.
Students also ask
Is Cobalt a good conductor of electricity?
Yes — like other metals, Cobalt conducts electricity and heat well, thanks to its sea of free electrons.
Can a gas be a metal — like Cobalt?
Yes — being a metal or nonmetal is about bonding and electron behaviour, not state. At room temperature Cobalt is a solid, and that says nothing against its metallic character.