Metals have a weird chemistry. They don’t hold on to their outer electrons very strongly, but they do so well enough that they can bond to each other by pooling their electrons into a ‘common fund’ of electrons. They are strongly attracted to other metal atoms, as much as the one they originally came from, so this makes them able to freely move around.
I’ll be honest that when I read this question I was a bit scared – I have no idea! I’ve read Emma and Jamal’s answers and they know more about this than me, but I did some research and found this YouTube video really useful in making the idea of a ‘sea of electrons’ make sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOuFTuvf4qk
I loved Jamal’s answer, helped me understand what was going on as well.
searching online I liked the answer of turning your question around to say:
Metals are grouped together and called metals precisely because they have free electrons that in turn means they are good conductors of heat and electricity.
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