High school8 min

Metallic bonding and the properties of metals

One model — positive ions in a sea of electrons — to explain why a metal conducts, shines, bends without breaking and melts at a higher or lower temperature.

The essentials

1

The electron-sea model

A metal is a lattice of fixed positive ions immersed in a gas of delocalised valence electrons, free to move through the whole solid (Drude–Lorentz model). The bond is collective and non-directional: no electron belongs to a particular atom. The whole remains neutral.
2

Three bonds not to mix up

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3

The packings

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4

Four properties, one cause

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5

Melting point and limits of the model

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