Lesson Plan

Lesson: Metallic Bonding

Aim :

To study metallic bonds and the electrical conductivity of metals in terms of conduction
bands.

Learning Outcomes :

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to :

1. define metallic bonds.

2. explain the formation of conduction and valence bands.

3. distinguish between conductors, insulators and semiconductors in terms of the

energy gap between their conduction and valence bands.

Assumed prior knowledge :

Students should already :

1. be familiar with the electronic arrangements of elements such as sodium,

magnesium, carbon and silicon.
2. be familiar with Hund’s rule, the Pauli exclusion principle and the Aufbau principle.

Underlying Principles
1. Making the invisible, visible.
2. Enabling students to know what to look for.

Time taken to complete the activities : 80 minutes

Differentiation

Questions in the student notes are designed to enable all students to complete the activity.
The pop-up answers are provided for the students to view when they have considered their
responses. Worksheet questions include questions that require recall, understanding and
application of the new concepts learned.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 1 of 4

Development of Lesson :

No. Steps Strategy Resources

1 Set Induction. • Teacher quizzes students to ensure that • Simple

(Ascertaining prior they have the assumed prior knowledge. electrical
knowledge and circuit,
introducing lesson • Teacher to demonstrate how some magnesium
topic for the day). elements conduct electricity well while ribbon,
others do not. Teacher to get students to graphite and
suggest how electricity is conducted plastic ruler.
through a solid element.

• Teacher to introduce lesson objectives for

the day’s lesson.

2 Student Activity Teacher to go through the activities with • Courseware

the students. Note : Activity 1 is
optional.

• Activity 1 : Molecular band theory

Students get to view the formation of

bonding and anti-bonding molecular
orbitals through the overlap of atomic
orbitals.

• Activity 2 : Band Theory

Students get to investigate the formation

of the valence and conduction bands in
sodium and magnesium. They also get to
view how electrons move across the
conduction bands to conduct electricity
across the metal lattice.

• Activity 3 : Band Model

Students get to investigate the energy

gap between the valence and conduction
bands of conductors, insulators and semi-
conductors.

3 Evaluation • Students to answer questions in the • Worksheet

student worksheet on their own.

4 Extension activity • Students to go through the extension • Websites

activities on their own. • Reference
books.

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 2 of 4

Worksheet answers

1. Introduction to metallic bonding.

1.1 The atoms in sodium are held together by metallic bonds. Metallic
bonds are the forces of attraction between the positive metal ions
and the negative delocalised electrons that surround the metal ions.
+
Na ions

sea of electrons

3. Band theory

3.1 a. i. The valence band is a group of very closely spaced molecular orbitals
that contain the valence electrons.

ii. The conduction band is a group of very closely spaced molecular

orbitals which are empty or partially filled.

b. i. The 2s band of calcium does not extend uninterrupted throughout the

solid. The electrons in this band are localised in the solid.

ii. The electrons in the 4s band in calcium jump up into the 4p band
which is empty. The electrons can then hop from one empty orbital of
an atom to another empty orbital of a neighbouring atom.

4. Band models

4.1 Conductors are substances that are capable of conducting electric current while
insulators are substances that are poor conductors of electricity.

The valence and conduction bands in conductors overlap. The conduction band is
always partly filled with electrons which can move throughout the solid.

There is a large gap between the valence and conduction bands in an insulator. No
electrons exist in the conduction band as a large amount of energy is needed to
excite an electron from the valence band into the conduction band. As a result,
electrons cannot move freely throughout the solid.

Conduction band
Conduction band
Energy

Energy

Energy gap

Valence band
Valence band

Conductor Insulator

© 2003 Ministry Of Education Malaysia. All Rights Reserved. Page 3 of 4

4.2 a. Semiconductor.

b. In silicon, the gap between the valence and conduction band is

smaller than that in insulators. When it is heated, the electrons
have more energy and more electrons are able to jump into the
conduction band.

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