Metals are strong, but they can be made into many shapes. There are lots of ways to shape metal. Most metals can be bent and pulled when they are very hot. A few metals, such as copper, lead and gold, can be shaped even when they are cold.
Copper is pulled into thin wires.
Hot runny metal can be poured into a mould to set, like a jelly – but the cold metal will not wobble! Hot steel is squashed in huge rollers. Gold and silver can be hammered into sheets as thin as paper. Copper is stretched into thin tube shapes to be used for wires. Copper and gold do not have to be heated before they are shaped.
Hot metal glues two pieces of metal together.
A car is made out of many pieces of metal. These are joined together by welding. A special hot flame melts the edges of two pieces of metal. Hot runny metal glues them together.
The thin part in this bulb is metal!
Can you see the very thin wire inside this light bulb? This is made out of the metal tungsten. It glows brightly when hot and it does not melt. This piece of tungsten is longer than a grown man but it is so thin it can be wound up into this tiny space.