Question

Metals are good conductors because they have many free electrons. How are these free electrons obtained?

Answer 1

Hint:Metals have a property to conduct electricity and hence, used in the making of electrical wires. Metals are situated in the extreme left of the periodic table.

Complete step-by-step answer:Metals are known to be good conductors. This property of metals can be explained from their electronic configuration and their nature.
The positions of metals are to the left of the periodic table, which means that they have a low electronegativity. This low electronegativity means that they have lower ability to form molecules by sharing electrons and so they transfer their valence electrons to form compounds.
As we know that, metals contain only 1 or 2 electrons in their outer or valence shell. This makes their electronic configuration unstable, and to attain a stable configuration, they lose these valence electrons. When they lose or transfer electrons to form a compound, a metallic bond is formed.
When these valence electrons are transferred rapidly by various atoms of the metal to form a compound, it is observed that a continuous movement of electrons occurs in the lattice of the compound. This movement is responsible for conduction of electricity.
Hence, the free electrons in metals are obtained due to their ability to transfer valence electrons to form compounds and to gain electrical neutrality.

Note:The best example for understanding the free electron concept and conduction in metals is that of NaCl. Sodium chloride has Na that contains 11 electrons, and the outer shell has 1 electron. This electron is passed to the chloride ion that needs only one electron to gain noble gas configuration. So, a compound of NaCl will be formed by the metallic bonds held by the transfer of free or valence electrons.