• Question: Why has metal got the most free electrons?

    Asked by anon-193450 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma on 6 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      Oh that’s a good one – I’m afraid I’m not sure! Physics was not really my strong point at school!

      So this made me want to look online and I found some interesting info here if that helps: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_ocr_21c/electric_circuits/electriccurrentrev2.shtml

    • Photo: Jamal Kinsella

      Jamal Kinsella answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      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.

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      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

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      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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