Question

Why are metals malleable?
A.Metals do not have free electrons
B.Metals consist layers of atoms that slides over one another
C.Metals have closely bound atoms
D.All the above

Answer 1

Hint: Most metals are malleable because the atoms can roll over each other and retain the structure of crystal.

Complete step by step answer:
-Malleability is a physical property when any material is hammered into sheets with breakage.
Example: Gold (A sugar cube chunk of gold can be pounded into thin sheet which will cover a football field)
-Any metals malleability can be measured by how much compressive stress it can bear with breakage. There can be differences in malleability among different metals and it could be due to variances in their crystal structure.
-Metals consist of layers of atoms which have loosely bound electrons and thus electrons in the metals move at random throughout the crystal.
-When a greater compressive stress is put on the metal, it forces atoms to roll over each other and permanently stay into new positions without breaking the metallic bonds. Bonds between metal atoms are non-directional, so whenever a metal receives stress, the position of adjacent layers of metallic metal ions shifts and thus atoms can slide over each other but the environment of the metal ions does not change. The deforming force just moves the metal ions from one lattice site to another.
-Thus, the correct answer is that metals are malleable because metals consist of layers of atoms that slide over one another.

Hence option B is correct.

Note:
Malleability in metal occurs because of the metallic bonds that keep the metals in place. Hence, metals can be permanently deformed without breaking and exhibit malleability.