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Why does antimony break easily instead of bending?
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antimony
Properties of antimony.
Antimony is a lustrous, silvery bluish-white chemical element that is characterized by its high degree of brittleness and flaky texture in its most stable, metallic form.1
Unlike many other metals that are malleable and can be bent without breaking, the atomic structure of stable, metallic antimony does not allow for the deformation required to bend. Instead, its physical properties cause it to fracture or break when subjected to stress.1
It is worth noting that there is an unstable, amorphous form of the element known as "explosive antimony." Unlike the stable metallic form, this variety is so sensitive that if it is bent or scratched, it undergoes a phase change to the more stable metallic form in a mildly explosive manner.1