Why do metals conduct electricity?
Electron configuration describes how electrons occupy available atomic states. This arrangement is central to periodic trends and helps explain why elements in the same group often react in related ways.
The short answer
Electron configuration describes how electrons occupy available atomic states. This arrangement is central to periodic trends and helps explain why elements in the same group often react in related ways.
What is really happening?
Electron configuration describes how electrons occupy available atomic states. This arrangement is central to periodic trends and helps explain why elements in the same group often react in related ways.
The outer electrons are especially useful when you want to anticipate chemical behaviour.
Chemical bonding describes how atoms are held together through interactions involving electrons and nuclei. Ionic, covalent and metallic models highlight different limiting behaviours rather than three completely isolated worlds.
A useful mental picture
In a metal, some electrons are not confined to one bond between two atoms. Their collective electronic structure lets charge respond to an electric field.