Question

Metals are electropositive in nature. Why?

Answer 1

• Metals usually lose their electrons to attain stability.
• The tendency of a metal to lose electrons will depend on its nature.
• The property of losing electrons in a metal is known as electropositivity.
• For example Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), and many more metals will lose their electrons to form positive ions(cations) and hence shows electropositivity.
• The generalized equation is as follows:

$\underset{(\mathrm{Metal}\mathrm{atom})}{\mathrm{M}}\to \underset{\left(\mathrm{Cation}\right)}{{\mathrm{M}}^{\mathrm{n}+}}+\underset{\left(\mathrm{Electrons}\right)}{{\mathrm{ne}}^{-}}$

• Hence, we conclude that metals are electropositive.