I know a metal atom like Na, obtaining 1 electron, loose it, and as a cation is being attracted by the sea of electrons..

 

Since Na's electronegativity is quite low, I assume that it does not have enough energy to attract another 7 electrons, and so it looses 1 electron to form outer shell....

 

However, how can the metal atom loose 1 electron since I see there is no other atom with higher electronegativity attracting it... as all of the other atoms have the same electronegativity as well, so what is the attraction that attracts the electron from outer shell of every metal atom???

 

Albert

Any body can help???

 

Above is what I think, so if you feel confused or it's wrong, tell me please...

 

thx thx for furthur responds

 

Albert

Is the vibration of sodium atom the reason?

Any way, I did not say I am completely corect. I am just making theorem...

 

by the way, PrimaryGun, I dont understand what do you mean by "vibration"... and how does that associate with my question.

 

Any more help?

 

Albert

I think the reason of their outermost shell electron being delocalized is that atoms vibrate and their electron shell intersects, this cause the unbalanced attraction to the outermost shell electron.

primarygun...

 

Why the atoms vibrate?? I assume that the bonding is weak, because in ionic, the atoms dont vibrate, because they strongly attracted each other...

 

By the way, what does "intersects" mean??

 

Albert

Any body can help??

 

thx in advance

I think the fact that Na has quite a small Atomic number actually increases the force of attraction to gain electrons. Atoms gain electroncs because they are not happy to not to a full outer shell, this force of attraction is because the atoms are either positivily charged or negatively charged. It's just like a magnet.

 

PS. Does this explain anything or am I talking about something that you already know?

ya... I know that already...

 

My logic is this:

 

IN ionic compound, one atom looses its electron, and it becomes positive ion. Another atom accepts the electron, and it becomes negative ion

 

But in metalic, the atoms loose their electrons, and they become positive ions, and I know that the mobile electrons act like negative ions, but why it can do this?? because there are no protons of atoms accepting them, how come the mobile electrons can leave their "home" atoms without any attraction from other type of atoms??

 

Albert

mobile electrons act like negative ions

They carry 1 - charge.

The attractive forces from the nucleus is not strong enough to hold the outermost shell electrons tightly.

Vibration of electron, collision of electrons and the foreign attractive force which attracts the electrons cause the outermost shell electrons leave their original shell, hence, they are said to be delocalized.

They could do a covalent bond can't they?

That would be VASTLY less efficient and require more energy to set up, so no.

I thought it's something like the outermost shell of the sodium orbitals combine together as they're the same energy level and the electrons are free to move among them... I'm not sure anyway ...

They carry 1 - charge.

The attractive forces from the nucleus is not strong enough to hold the outermost shell electrons tightly.

Vibration of electron' date=' collision of electrons and the foreign attractive force which attracts the electrons cause the outermost shell electrons leave their original shell, hence, they are said to be delocalized.[/quote']

 

What are the foreign attrative force which attracts the electrons??

 

Albert

Can any one please help on my previous message??

 

Apreciate

 

Albert

The sodium atoms nearby

thx...

But in metalic, the atoms loose their electrons, and they become positive ions, and I know that the mobile electrons act like negative ions, but why it can do this?? because there are no protons of atoms accepting them, how come the mobile electrons can leave their "home" atoms without any attraction from other type of atoms??

 

If I understand your question correctly, I think you're thinking in terms of ionic equations where metals losing an electron is represented as a cation. For instance, the equation:

 

Na + H2O ==> NaOH + H2

 

.... can be also written as:

 

Na ==> Na+ + e- [1 electron]

 

As you can see, the ionic equation doesn't really happen in real life... it only shows whats happening to the individual elements and compounds in a reaction. I hope this is answers it...

 

Regards,

mak10