Why are charge carriers in metals electrons not protons?

[holly]

Apology First:
I very much regret having a nasty, hair-trigger temper and I apologize to anyone rightfully offended by it, and feel I should indeed read questions more thoroughly and also try to research questions better. Weak excuse: I find it very upsetting to care for dying Alzheimers patients and have very little time. It is a requirement of my program to care for the dying.

Question:
Charge carriers in a metal are electrons rather than protons because electrons are:
Smaller
Negative
Loosely bound
All of the above
None of the above

I know they are smaller (lighter) and also loosely bound. I am not sure the negative fact comes into play, because the book says protons carry a positive charge, and metals do have protons. But since two of them are true, is the likely answer All of the above? This is in the only question out of 84 I can't solve for this chapter. Thank you.

 

[harsh]

I think the answer is loosely bound. I don't really see why the others would have an impact.

 

[cookiemonster]

Protons are stuck in the nucleus. They have a lot of trouble moving. Electrons, on the other hand, are relatively free in the electron clouds and easily move.

The size or sign of the charge has nothing to do with it. It is true that electrons are smaller, but it is not relevant to conduction of charge.

Sorry to hear about having to care for the dying. Don't worry about the little outburst. Everybody gets like that every now and then. =]

cookiemonster

 

[holly]

Thx to both of you. I will go with "Loosely bound" as my answer. I thought "smaller" had something to do with carrying the charge, something about electrons not getting stuck somewhere inside the wires of things, but I guess that's not part of the answer. Thanks again.