albertlee Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primarygun Posted November 4, 2004 Share Posted November 4, 2004 Is the vibration of sodium atom the reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primarygun Posted November 5, 2004 Share Posted November 5, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 5, 2004 Author Share Posted November 5, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 5, 2004 Author Share Posted November 5, 2004 Any body can help?? thx in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigDino Posted November 5, 2004 Share Posted November 5, 2004 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 5, 2004 Author Share Posted November 5, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primarygun Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigDino Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 They could do a covalent bond can't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed84c Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 That would be VASTLY less efficient and require more energy to set up, so no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fermions Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 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 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Can any one please help on my previous message?? Apreciate Albert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primarygun Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 The sodium atoms nearby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertlee Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 thx... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mak10 Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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