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Atomic Structure

What is Metallic Bonding?

What is the Structure of a Metal?

Metals form a giant structure
(like ionic compounds and giant molecules).

In the picture below the red balls represent metal ions.
The blue lines represent delocalised electrons in the
outer shell of the metal ions. Delocalised means that the
electrons are not attached to one particular ion.

The delocalised electrons between the positive metal ions
hold the structure together by strong electrostatic forces.
The delocalised electrons in the structure of
a metal are sometimes called a "sea of electrons".

The structure of a metal can also be shown as

In the above picture the dotted lines represent the delocalised
electrons. Delocalised electrons are also called free electrons
because they can move very easily through the metal structure.
It is these free electrons which give metals their properties.

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