Question

why is the atomic packing factor for metals is relatively large?

Answer 1

Some of the properties of crystalline solids depend on the
crystal structure of the material, the manner in which atoms, ions, or
molecules are spatially arranged. There is an extremely large number
of different crystal structures all having long range atomic order; these
vary from relatively simple structures for metals to exceedingly
complex ones,

Answer 2

The atomic bonding in metals are and thus
non-directional in nature. Consequently, there are minimal restrictions as
to the number and position of nearest-neighbor atoms; this leads to
relatively large numbers of nearest neighbors and dense atomic packing
for most metallic crystal structures. Also, for metals, using the hard
sphere model for the crystal structure, each sphere represents an ion core.
Three relatively simple crystal structures are found for most of the
common metals: face-centered cubic, body-centered cubic and hexagonal
close-packed

Answer 3

I'm just studying the same book! :)

Answer 4

good carry on then :)

Answer 5

i just cant understand this part : "there are minimal restrictions as
to the number and position of nearest-neighbor atoms"

Answer 6

since in metals all the metallic atoms are of same size hence they can be filled very easily without much space and also nearest neighbor will be more
but in case of compounds of different atoms the sizes of atoms are different as result correct symmetric filling may not take place hence more space will be avialabele