A systematic first-principles study of atomic strings made by group IV, III-V, and II-VI elements has revealed interesting mechanical, electronic, and transport properties. The double bond structure underlies their unusual properties. We found that linear chain of C, Si, Ge, SiGe, GaAs, InSb, and CdTe are stable and good conductor, although their parent diamond (zincblende) crystals are covalent (polar) semiconductors but, compounds SiC, BN, AlP, and ZnSe are semiconductors. First row elements do not form zigzag structures.