Metallic bonding

What is Metallic bonding?

Metallic bonding is the electrostatic attraction between the positive ions in a giant metallic lattice and a sea of delocalised electrons. The metal atoms have lost their outer-shell electrons into this shared sea, so the lattice consists of positive ions rather than neutral atoms, and the attraction acts in all directions between those ions and the mobile electrons around them.

This definition is part of the Atoms, Elements and Compounds chapter in Cambridge O Level Chemistry.

Concepts related to Metallic bonding

• positive metal ion
• sea of delocalised electrons
• electrostatic attraction