Metallic bonding

Type of chemical bond in metals

Metallic bonding is a type of chemical bonding that arises from the electrostatic attractive force between conduction electrons (in the form of an electron cloud of delocalized electrons) and positively charged metal ions. Metal atoms lose their valence electrons to a large, delocalized orbital, which leaves the nucleus, and other electrons that are closer to the nucleus, as positively charged cations. The ions form a crystal lattice as they are held together by the negative charge of the delocalized orbital.

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