What property allows metals to be easily shaped and drawn into wires?

Ductility is the property that enables metals to be easily shaped and drawn into wires. This characteristic allows metals to undergo significant plastic deformation without breaking when subjected to tensile stress. During processes like drawing and forming, ductile materials can be stretched into thin wires or shaped into various forms, making them ideal for applications that involve these techniques.

In practice, ductility is crucial for manufacturing processes where metals need to be manipulated without fracturing. Metals with high ductility can endure stretching and bending, which is essential in the fabrication of electrical wires, cables, and other components where flexibility and deformation are needed.

Other properties like hardness, toughness, and brittleness do not provide the same advantages for shaping metals. Hardness refers to a material's resistance to deformation, which can limit its ability to be worked into forms. Toughness describes a material's ability to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing but does not directly relate to the ease of shaping. Brittleness, on the other hand, indicates a tendency to fracture without significant deformation, making it counterproductive for processes that require shaping.