Question

State three reasons that magnesium is a metal.

Answer 1

Electronic configuration of magnesium

The electronic configuration of magnesium is: $1{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{s}}^2$.

Three reasons that make magnesium a metal:

• It is a good conductor of electricity.
  • In metals, the valence band, and conduction band overlap.
  • The electrons present in the valence band can easily participate in the conduction of electricity.
  • The two electrons present in $3\mathrm{s}$ orbital are the valence electrons. They are responsible for conducting electricity.
• Magnesium is an electropositive element.
  • Metals lose electrons in their valence shell to attain a stable configuration. Therefore they are electropositive elements.
  • Nonmetals on the other hand gain electrons to attain a stable configuration. Therefore they are called electronegative elements.
  • Magnesium has two valence electrons are present in $3\mathrm{s}$ orbital. It loses them to become more stable.
  • Hence, magnesium is an electropositive element.
• The ionization enthalpy of magnesium is low.
  • Metals generally have less ionization enthalpy than nonmetals because the valence electrons in the case of metals are more loosely bound.
  • In the case of group 1 and group 2 metals, the valence electrons are present in the $\mathrm{s}$ orbital. Very less energy is required to remove an electron from $\mathrm{s}$ orbitals orbital as compared to the $\mathrm{p}$ orbital.
  • In the case of magnesium, the two valence electrons are present in $3\mathrm{s}$ orbital.
  • Hence, magnesium has a low ionization enthalpy.

Hence due to the above three reasons, magnesium is considered a metal.