Why are most elements on the left of the periodic table metals?

Answer 1

they "steal" electrons so that they can have a full outer shell. shells hold electrons and the outer shell's electrons are called valence electrons. valence electrons are the ones that do all of the chemical bonding. the right half usually steals electrons because(eg.) it uses less energy to take 3 than to give away 5. atoms are stablest with a full or empty outer shell, and then become ions. ions are charged elements. an atom only becomes an ion if a chemical bond is about to occur. those only occur if a compound is forming (sodium chloride(NaCl) is Na+1 and Cl-1 ,and they are charged because one valence electron is being shared or "stolen")

Answer 2

Elements on the left side make positive ions because they lose electrons in chemical reactions. Electrons have a negative charge, so when an atom of an element loses electrons it becomes positive. An atom's goal is to completely fill up their last electron energy level, but the elements on the left side have very few valence electrons. So, instead of filling up their last electron energy level, the atoms just get rid of the few electrons in their last energy level. Then, the atom's second-to-last energy level becomes its last energy level, and it is already completely filled up.

Answer 3

The way the Periodic Table is arranged, you start on the left with elements having one valance electron, and go across the table adding electrons (with some added complexity as you pass through the transition state elements) until you reach the elements that have eight valance electrons, in the column on the far right, then you go back to the left with one valance electron (eight valance electrons is a full shell, so you then have to start a new shell). And any element that has between one and three valance electrons is a metal. Elements with few valance electrons will give up electrons to form a complete outer shell, and elements with many valance electrons will add electrons to gain a complete outer shell (those with eight valance electrons already have a complete outer shell).

Answer 4

Only noble gases(except Xe) do not gain or lose electrons. Elements on right side have valence electrons 4 or more than 4 in number and to achieve stable noble gas like configuration they can only accept electrons and not lose them.

Answer 5

they have few outer e- which are not attracted strongly by the nucleus so they can be easily removed forming pos. ions