Why does the number of valence electrons in metals tends to be less than the number in most nonmetals?

Answer 1

Metals have s orbitals filled in their valence shells. This makes 1 or 2 valence electrons. Some metals gain configurations between the s and d orbitals. Non metals have s and p valence electrons, so they have 2 in s orbitals and up to 6 in p orbitals.

Answer 2

Metals tend to be on the left of the transition elements and therefore they have less valence electrons in their outer shell. Nonmetals are on the the right of the transition metals and those nonmetals almost have in their electron outer shell full and the number they have in the outer shell represents the valence electrons.

Answer 3

All atoms are in their lowest energy state when they have eight valence electrons like the noble gases. Metals contain fewer electrons in their outer shell and tend to form cations to have a noble gas configuration of electrons. Nonmetals contain more electrons and form anions to gain 8 valence electrons.

Answer 4

There must be a different reason but one reason is a large portion of metals are d-block element and d-block elements can have a lot valence states because of the fact that the 3d shell have similar energies and not large differences and that some have a lot of space in the d 3d orbital. There are no non-metals in the d-block catogory , so this obviously will add to the reason. Like i said there must be other reasons also.