What will be the chemical reaction of metals with non-metals?


Metal atoms have only a few electrons in their outer shell whereas non-metal atoms have lots of electrons in their outer shell. When a metal reacts with a non-metal, electrons transfer from the metal to the non-metal to form ions like cations and anions. The resulting compound is called an ionic compound. 

Example: sodium + chlorine → sodium chloride.


As sodium has one electron in its valence shell and needs to remove it to attain noble gas configuration. So, it gets ionizes and gives one electron (Na) to form a compound. Chlorine needs 1 electron to attain noble gas configuration so it takes the electron from sodium ion and becomes chloride anion. Therefore, in Sodium Chloride, Na gives 1 electron to Cl and becomes Na+, as Cl accepts an electron, it becomes Cl-. These two ions combine to give the compound NaCl.

Na + Cl -> NaCl

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Updated on: 10-Oct-2022

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