Question

Is diamond a metal or nonmetal?

Answer 1

Elements are arranged in a tabular form called periodic table and there are 115 elements present in the periodic table. There are similarities as well as differences in the properties of these elements. On the basis of these properties elements can be divided into metals and non-metals.

Complete answer:
Metals are arranged on the left side of the periodic table and there are five kinds of metals: Alkaline earth metals, Alkali metals, Transition metals, Actinides and Lanthanides. There are a total 92 elements out of which 70 are metals. While non-metal elements are those that do not possess the properties of metal. These are arranged on the left side of the periodic table. And there are 22 non-metals in the periodic table.
Diamond is one of the important allotropic solid forms of carbon. In this atoms are arranged in a crystal structure known as cubic form of diamond. Diamond is not the hardest and has the highest thermal conductivity from all the natural sources. The arrangement of atoms in diamond is extremely rigid due to which many types of impurities can contaminate it and it also has relatively high optical depression. Non-metals are generally not so hard in nature but diamond is the exceptional case of non-metals as it is the hardest non-metal which is generally the allotrope of carbon non-metal.
Hence we can say that diamond is the hardest non-metal.

Note: There are many uses of diamond. The one of the important and basic uses of diamonds is that they are used in jewelry due to their shiny appearance. It is one of the most costly metals in nature and known for being the hardest metal in nature.