the.com/ductility
The reason metal bends into wire instead of snapping into pieces.
means The property of a material, especially a metal, that lets it be stretched or drawn out into a thin wire or long shape under stress without breaking.
from From Latin 'ducere' meaning 'to lead' or 'to draw' — the same root behind 'duct' and 'educate.' A ductile metal is, quite literally, one that can be led or drawn out, like wire pulled through a die, rather than one that resists and cracks.
- gold medal
- one gram stretches into a 2km wire
- opposite trait
- brittleness, where materials crack under stress
- atomic reason
- metallic bonds let atom layers slide without breaking
- glass fails here
- strong under pressure, zero ductility, shatters instead