Why are elements that gain or lose 1 electron the most active metals or nonmetals?
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It is harder to remove an electron that has more than 1 electron in the shell because of the combined energy that the shell has. A single electron itself does not require a lot of energy to remove, however, when there is more than one, there is combined energy placed in the shell. It is still possible to do so, but is very hard.\n\nTom Walvin\nChemist
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The nonmetals are halogens, noble gases and the following elements in order of atomic number (nonmetals as chemical series):\n\nhydrogen (H) \ncarbon (C) \nnitrogen (N) \noxygen (O) \nphosphorus (P) \nsulfur (S) \nselenium (Se) \n\nhere's an example:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table_%28metals_and_non-metals%29
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Gain one/two electron(s):\n\nIf an atom or ion acquires another electron in a chemical reaction, it has gained an electron.  ditto for two electrons.\nExample: S has 16 electrons.  If it gains one electron it becomes a S- ion.  If it gains two electrons, it becomes a S-2 ion.\n\nSteal one/two electrons:\nIf an atom or ion looses an electron in a chemical reaction, it had to go somewhere.  That "somewhere" will be to another atom/ion.  So, the receiving atom/ion could be said to have stolen the electron.  Same goes for reactions involving two electrons.\nExample: Na reacts with Cl to produce NaCl.  Cl "steals" an electron from Na, creating Na+ and a Cl- ions.\n\n"Never ever react electron"\nI have never ever heard this phrase.  Maybe it refers to a species (atom or ion) that does not participate in the reaction.  It's valence electron(s) would not react.
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Ionization potential is defined as the energy require to turn a neutral atom into an ion. Usually, this refers to the first ionization energy, i.e., the energy to remove the 1st electron in an atom. Using the same idea, the 2nd ionization energy, for example, refers to the energy that is required to remove the 2nd electon after the removal of the first electron.\n\nIn this case, you are likely to refer to the first ionization potential of group 1 metal, so let's just focus on this. Group 1 metals (Li, Na, etc.) all have 1 valence electron. To turn to the most stable form, these metals have to lose that only one electron to form a 1+ ion, which has the same electron configuration as a noble gas. As you go down the periodic table, more electron shells are added to the elements, i.e., the atomic radius increases. As you may know, the negative electrons are attracted to the positive protons in the core. As the size of the atom gets bigger, it is harder for the core to experience the outermost electron (this is due to shielding effect by the inner shells), and thus the attraction between the inner core and the outermost electrons are weaker for bigger elements. As a result, it is easier to lose the valence electrons for the bigger elements than the smaller elements (provided that they all have the same valence electrons). Therefore, you should expect K to be more reactive than Li, for example.
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A metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds. Metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionisation and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po) separates the metals from the nonmetals. Elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals.\n\nA modern definition of metals is that they have overlapping conduction bands and valence bands in their electronic structure. This definition opens up the category for metallic polymers and other organic metals, which have been made by researchers and employed in high-tech devices. These synthetic materials often have the characteristic silvery-grey reflectiveness of elemental metals.\n\nThe traditional definition focuses on the bulk properties of metals. They tend to be lustrous, ductile, malleable, and good conductors of electricity, while nonmetals are generally brittle (for solid nonmetals), lack lustre, and are insulators.\n\nRest all are non metals.
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The only element that has only one electron is hydrogen.  Is high pressure, such as the surface of Jupiter, or extremely low temperatures, hydrogen forms a solid which has the properties of an alkali metal-it is an electron donor.
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Ionic solids are indeed formed by a gain and loss of electrons.  More specifically, they are formed by a chemical reaction between a metal atom and a nonmetal atom.  For example, sodium, a metal, has a tendency to want to lose an electron, and bromine, a nonmetal, wants to gain an electron, so the sodium gives an electron to bromin(which is now called bromide).  Now sodium has lost an electron, which is negatively charged, so it has a net charge of 1+. Bromine has gained an electron, so it has a net charge of -1.  Since they are oppositely charged, they are attracted to each other (kind of like how opposite poles of magnets are atracted to each other), they ionically bond and become an ionic solid (also known as a salt).
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Noble gases are inactive\nhalogens are very active\nLast one, ionization energy decreases\nlanthanide and actinide are the bottom 2 periods
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In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds. Metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionisation and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po) separates the metals from the nonmetals. Elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals.
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Copper in the metal spark and flame apparatus of the lighter.  The metal is heated by the flame, and electrons in the metal are excited and jump up a few orbitals (energy levels), and on the way back down to the ground state, they release the energy in the form of light correpsonding to green wavelengths.
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s p d f blocks tell which set of orbitals are the last to fill for those elements.\n\n+ or - depending on whether it will lose or gain an e-\n\ncations are smaller than atoms b/c they lose e-\nanions are larger than atoms b/c they gain e-\n\neach successive ionization energy gets higher becasue the #protons is more and more unbalanced by # e-\n\nhalogens have 7 valence e- and noble gases have 8.  by gaining one e- the halogens now have the e- configuration of a noble gas and are more stable.  gain 1 e- = 1- charge
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It lacks the crystalline electron structure that elements like magnesium and iron have. Thus, it cannot align into electrical dipoles, and is not magnetic.
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Metals have 1 or 2 or 3 electrons in their outer shell. Non metals have 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 electrons in their outer shell. (Strictly speaking, elements with 4 electrons in their outer shell are semi-metals or metalloids.)
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Sulphur would be the biggest atom because it has the most protons, electrons, & neutrons.\n\nThose with a tendancy to gain electrons are further to the right of the periodic table. This inlcudes O, S and P (to a lesser extent).\nAl and B are further to the left on the periodic table and would have a tencancy to lose electrons.
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To put it most simply, Copper is a metal and sulphur is a nonmetal.  Metals are better conductors of electricity.  If you want to know why metals are better conductors than nonmetals, you should look up band theory.
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Reactivity in goup 1 increses down the group from Lithium to Sodium to Potassium. Therefore, Sodium would the closest. They are all group 1 metals, just in different periods. All have one vacant electron which makes them very reactive.
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I'll make it easy for you.All the metals forms positive ions by losing electrons and all non-metals form negative ions by gaining electrons.\nExample:- NaCl  Na+ & Cl-