Name: Electrical Conductivity of Metals and Non-metals
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 4 min 50 s
Description: Materials that allow an electric current to pass through them are the conductors of electricity. This video helps to understand the concept of electrical con...

Question

What are the causes of chemical combination and how do metals react with non-metals?

Accepted Answer

Cause of chemical combination:
1. Tendency to acquire stability; according to the law of nature, the most stable state of a system corresponds to the state of minimum energy.
If the lowest energy is achieved by the complete transfer of one or more electrons from one atom to another, then ions are formed and resultant ions are held together by the electrostatic attraction between these ions e.g. ${Na}^{+} {Cl}^{-}$ . The attraction results in the ionic molecule.
If the lowest energy is achieved by sharing of electrons, then the atom links through a covalent bond (e.g. ${NH}_{3}$ ).

2. Tendency to acquire nearest noble gas configuration or octet rule.
The noble gases having a stable electronic configuration. And possess completely filled valency shell possess practically no tendency to enter into the chemical combination and to form chemical bonds and are therefore supposed to behave as a stable entity.

In a reaction between metal and non-metal, the metal atom loses one or more electron to acquire octet and forms a cation. The non-metal atom gains one or more electrons to acquire octet and forms an anion.

What are the causes of chemical combination and how do metals react with non-metals?

Important Questions on Metals and Non-metals

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