#"Malleability"# from the Latin, #"malleus"="hammer,"# is the ability of a substance to be hammered out into a sheet. #"Ductility"# is the ability of a metal to be drawn out into wire. Metals tend to be supremely malleable and ductile and workable, and are thus the premier material with which to make tools...
Why? Well, this is a consequence of #"metallic bonding"#, in which close-packed metal atoms contribute one or two (or more) valence electrons to the overall lattice. The result? Electrons are delocalized over the entire lattice, and this leads to the familiar picture of metals as #"positive ions in an electron sea"#.
The positively charged metallic nuclei can thus move in relation to each other, WITHOUT disrupting the metallic bond...The delocalized electrons are also responsible for the general thermal and electrical conductivities exhibited by metals.
