Question: will highly charged metals break apart?

[jsmtaylor23]

Because of the "sea of electrons" holding a metal lattice together is it possible to charge that metal so much positively (by removing enough electrons) that it will break apart due to the unbalanced repulsion between positive nuclei?

normally the interaction between the "sea of electrons" and the positive nucleus holds the lattice together. without the sea wouldn't the atoms just fly apart? if its possible how hard would it be to achieve this?

 

[Joel Martis]

Hi jsmtaylor23. I think this link would be of some help. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-79696-8_23#page-1

 

[jsmtaylor23]

thanks!