Entanglement in metallic bonds

[questionposter]

In metallic bonds, there just seems to be some kind of general random field electrons occupy and hold a metal together, but are there specific energy states in metallic bonds or is it just a mesh? And are electrons entangled in metallic bonds?

Edited April 15, 2012 by questionposter

[swansont]

Some electrons are free to move from atom to atom, and the energy state is much wider than in atomic systems. This is called the conduction band. The electrons can't all be in the same energy state owing to the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

 

No, they are not entangled.

[mississippichem]

In metallic bonds, there just seems to be some kind of general random field electrons occupy and hold a metal together, but are there specific energy states in metallic bonds or is it just a mesh? And are electrons entangled in metallic bonds?

 

The old nomenclature of "metallic bonds" can be misleading as there not really any distinct "bonds" (I'm defining bond here as a a set of two or more electrons that may or may not be spin paired but occupy some orbital with a defined symmetry and energy). Like swansont said you have bands of different energies in metallic solids. The bands that are delocalized over many metal atoms are conduction bands. The bands that are bound tighter around specific atomic nuclei (like in non-metal atoms) are the valence bands.

 

Entanglement plays no part in this.