# Calcium's a Metal???

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 26, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323 "2008-08-26T16:49:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323/41 "2008-08-28T01:59:50Z")

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And to further the hijack, it looks like under the right conditions, He goes metalic.

ie, inside Jovian sized planets

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323/42 "2008-08-28T02:02:17Z")

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[QUOTE=The Vorlon]  
He goes metalic.  
[/QUOTE]

Jesus is an X-Man?

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**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323/43 "2008-08-28T02:16:27Z")

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Quite honestly, I suspect most elements go metallic under enough pressure, but only the smallest atoms allow for it under even astronomical conditions. I think that condensing the valence orbitals enough will turn them into an effective conduction band by making them overlap enough that the probability of an electron passing from one atom to another significant. Only the lowest MW elements though would have an electron repulsion low enough to make it possible though.

It’s just a guess though.

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**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calciums-a-metal/461323/44 "2008-08-29T00:12:09Z")

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Yeah, it’s interesting how elements have a set of properties but when they combine with other elements, the nature of the new beast is something different. E.g. hydrogen and oxygen are gases at room temp, but H2O is liquid. Sodium and chlorine as elements could have some nasty outcomes if not handled properly, but you can actually EAT NaCl. Organic chemistry is crazy: Formaldehyde—CH20, has the same proportions of elements as fructose (C6H1206) but different properties fer sure.

BTW my doc recommends calcium citrate as a supplement instead of calcium carbonate. Wikipedia says _Bioavailability is 2.5 times higher than calcium carbonate_.

> **[Calcium citrate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_citrate)**
>
> Calcium citrate is the calcium salt of citric acid. It is commonly used as a food additive (E333), usually as a preservative, but sometimes for flavor. In this sense, it is similar to sodium citrate. Calcium citrate is also found in some dietary calcium supplements (e.g. Citracal or Caltrate). Calcium makes up 24.1% of calcium citrate (anhydrous) and 21.1% of calcium citrate (tetrahydrate) by mass. The tetrahydrate occurs in nature as the mineral Earlandite.
> In 2020, calcium was the 204th mo...

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