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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > October  >
Chemical Education Today
Commentary
In Defense of the Metallic Bond
John J. Gilman
Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cover
October 1999
Vol. 76 No. 10
p. 1330
Abstract
This paper is a rebuttal of the suggestion that the term "metallic bond" be stricken from the chemist's lexicon. The argument of the critics of current usage is that the metallic bond is simply a special case of the covalent bond and that it can be discussed adequately in terms of molecular orbital theory. They define a "metal" as a substance with high electronic conductivity. The rebuttal points out that the historical definition of a metal has (for millennia) been in terms of the ductility of a substance - a property not possessed by "organic" and "ceramic" electronic conductors. This complex and unique property is supported by the characteristics of the metallic bond. In particular, it requires a sufficiently high concentration of nearly free electrons to form a Fermi liquid because ductility requires the bonding to be as nondirectional as possible. This is the antithesis of covalent bonding, as in diamond, for example.
More Information
*  Citation
 Gilman, John J. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 1330.
*  Keywords
 Inorganic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Bonding Theory; Materials Science; Metals; Solid-State Chemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 September 6, 1999
June 23, 2005
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