Question

Metals are good conductors of electricity because

• A. They have high melting points
• B. The atoms are lightly packed
• C. They contain free electrons
• D. All of the above

Hint:

Ask what actually carries the current inside a metal.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Picture a metal as a fixed grid of positive metal ions with a cloud of loose electrons drifting around them, not stuck to any one ion.

1. These loose electrons are called free electrons or conduction electrons.
2. When you connect a battery across the metal, an electric field is set up inside it.
3. The free electrons respond to this field and drift steadily in one direction, and this organized drift of charge is what we call electric current.

Because metals have plenty of these free electrons ready to move, they conduct electricity easily, so option C is correct.

Melting point depends on how strongly the metal ions are held together in the lattice, which has nothing to do with charge flow, so option A is irrelevant. Metal atoms are tightly packed in an ordered structure, not lightly packed, so option B is factually wrong too. With both A and B incorrect, option D cannot be the answer.