Is Xenon a Metal, Nonmetal or Metalloid?
Xenon (Xe) is a nonmetal (a noble gas) — a noble gas — a nonmetal whose outer shell is already complete, so it hardly reacts with anyone. It sits in group 18, period 5, and is a gas at room temperature.
Looking for Xenon'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 Xenon page is one click away.
The one-line answer, with reasons
Xenon is a nonmetal (a noble gas). Chemists decide by behaviour, not appearance: metals (unlike Xenon) give up electrons, shine when freshly cut, and conduct heat and electricity; nonmetals take or share electrons and (as solids) break rather than bend. Xenon follows the nonmetal playbook — placed in the noble gas family of the table.
Xenon's metal/nonmetal report card
| Property | Value | Typical of |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Noble gas | — |
| Phase at room temp | gas | varies |
| Block | p-block | — |
| Group | 18 | — |
| Period | 5 | — |
The family it belongs to
The whole noble gas family shares one seating area of the table, and every member's family ID card is one click away — compare Xenon with its upstairs or downstairs neighbour and the family pattern jumps out.
Students also ask
Is Xenon a good conductor of electricity?
No — Xenon is a nonmetal and does not conduct the way metals do.
Can a gas be a nonmetal — like Xenon?
Yes — being a metal or nonmetal is about bonding and electron behaviour, not state. At room temperature Xenon is a gas, and that says nothing against its nonmetallic character.