Is Polonium a Metal, Nonmetal or Metalloid?
Polonium (Po) is a metal — a real metal — softer and lower-melting than the transition metals, but still lustrous and conductive. It sits in group 16, period 6, and is a solid at room temperature.
Looking for Polonium'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 Polonium page is one click away.
The one-line answer, with reasons
Polonium is a metal. Chemists decide by behaviour, not appearance: metals (like Polonium) give up electrons, shine when freshly cut, and conduct heat and electricity; nonmetals take or share electrons and (as solids) break rather than bend. Polonium checks every metal box — placed in the post-transition metal family of the table.
Polonium's metal/nonmetal report card
| Property | Value | Typical of |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Post-transition metal | — |
| Phase at room temp | solid | metals are usually solid |
| Block | p-block | — |
| Group | 16 | — |
| Period | 6 | — |
The family it belongs to
The whole post-transition metal family shares one seating area of the table, and every member's family ID card is one click away — compare Polonium with its upstairs or downstairs neighbour and the family pattern jumps out.
Students also ask
Is Polonium a good conductor of electricity?
Yes — like other metals, Polonium conducts electricity and heat well, thanks to its sea of free electrons.
Can a gas be a metal — like Polonium?
Yes — being a metal or nonmetal is about bonding and electron behaviour, not state. At room temperature Polonium is a solid, and that says nothing against its metallic character.