How does the ability to conduct heat differ between metals and nonmetals?

Poor electrical conductors like glass, plastic, wood, etc. conduct heat mainly through vibrations among the molecules. As molecules vibrate, they bump into their neighbors from time to time, transferring some of their energy (i.e. heat). Those neighbors then bump in to some of their neighbors on the other side and transfer some of the energy to them. The process continues, and the heat is transferred through the material, but it happens quite slowly because the molecules are mostly stuck in place (because they're part of a solid material. If they were liquid or gas, they could move around more freely and transport heat more quickly. That process is called convection, rather than conduction). Anyway, metals and other good electrical conductors have the ability to transfer energy through an additional mechanism. In this case, the vibrating molecules literally shake off some of their weakly-bound electrons (which are plentiful in metals and all other good electrical conductors). These high-energy electrons then fly away and bump into other molecules or electrons, transferring the heat. Unlike entire vibrating molecules, however, individual electrons are so small that they can travel much longer distances at much, much higher speeds before they bump into anything. (It's sort of like shooting a gun in a forest. The bullet may travel several hundred feet or more before it actually strikes a tree. If you tried to drive a bus in that same forest, however, you couldn't go more than a few feet without running into something) Hope this helps :)

assuming that your periodic table has eighteen columns, you should highlight   the four elements in the third column from the left of the table.

neutral atoms of elements after calcium contain d electrons. the energy of d orbitals of a particular main shell lies between the energy of the s and p orbitals of the next main shell. for example, electrons in the have energy higher than those in the orbital while lower than those of the orbital.

by the aufbau principle, electrons fill orbitals one at a time, starting from those of the lowest energy. the orbital is therefore filled right after orbitals and before orbitals.  

potassium has electron configuration and calcium . the s orbital of a main shell holds a maximum of two electrons. the next element would thus have the electron configuration and satisfy the requirements.

a neutral atom of the element contains three electrons on top of the most recent noble gas element. it should thus be placed in the third column of the periodic table. both scandium and yttrium would satisfy the conditions. an aufbau diagram indicates that the 4f orbital is filled before the 5d. however, it appears that exceptions exists for both lanthanum and actinium. neutral atoms of the two d-block elements also demonstrate the and should be highlighted as well.

it would be a gas formation