Question

In a hotel breakfast bar, you see an older woman sticking a fork into a toaster to remove a piece of toast. You warn her not to do that, and she says, "You know, I always wondered why forks conduct electricity so well." As an astute chemistry student, how would you explain it to her? Make sure you provide a relationship to electronegativity, proton pull, and electron distribution in your answer.

Answer 1

Answer:

See explanation

Explanation:

You see, all these materials we see around us are composed of elements. These elements are unique in their own ways!

Some of them are able to attract tiny negative particles called electrons close to their positive interior called the nucleus. This positive interior is so designated because it contains a positive particle called protons which attract these electrons.

Now, elements are broadly divided into metals and non metals. Protons in metallic elements are less able to pull electrons than protons in non metallic elements. As a result of this, non metals are mostly electronegative because they pull electrons towards themselves while metals are mostly electropositive because they give away their electrons easily. Fork is composed of metallic elements.

Since metals give away electrons easily, they can conduct electricity since electrons are the same charge carriers in electric circuits.

Also, in elements, there is a conduction band and a valence band. Electrons  occupy the valence band but also move into the conduction band. The gap between the valence band and the conduction band in nonmetals is large hence they do not conduct electricity. The gap between the valence band and the conduction band in metals is minimal hence metals conduct electricity.

So if you stick that fork into a toaster, electrons can flow right through the toaster circuit into your body and cause you to be electrocuted.