English

Noun

sectility (uncountable)

1. The property of being able to be cut; examples of materials with this property include wood, metal, and paper.

Sectility is the ability to be cut into pieces. Metals and paper are sectile.

Sectility can be used to distinguish minerals of similar appearance. For example, gold is sectile but pyrites ("Fool's gold") are not.

Sectility in metals is a result of metallic bonding, where valence (bonding) electrons are delocalized and can flow freely between atoms, rather than being shared between specific pairs or groups of atoms, as in covalent bonding.

References

• gold
• bonding notes