Answer to Question #74527 in Physical Chemistry for simran

Question

i want to ask that :-

we know that particle with opposite chage attract eachother......

ie + and - will attract eachother...

then why not the metals with + (positive charge) and non-metals with - (negative charge) attract eachother...............

Answer 1

The metal particles if they are in ionic state they’re usually positively charged (cations), non-
metal particles (anions) are negatively charged. So they attract each other for example in

solutions or ionic melts. But when we’re talking about piece of metal or non-metal the situation
is different. Positively charged ions in metallic lattice are surrounded with negatively charged
electrons. So the total charge is zero. The same for a piece of non-metal - the electrons
compensate the charge. We write Fe (0) for iron, S8 (0) for sulphur.