eng Science and Education Publishing World Journal of Chemical Education 2375-1657 2015-03-26 3 2 30 35 10.12691/wjce-3-2-1 WJCE2015321 article Peter F. Lang p.f.lang@gmail.com 1 Barry C. Smith 1 Birkbeck College (University of London), Malet Street, London, UK WC1E 7HX This article briefly describes the current physical model of metallic structure and bonding. An alternative soft-sphere model of metal structure is introduced. Limitations of the current model are given and properties of metals which can be accounted for by the soft-sphere model are discussed. A simple soft-sphere formula, which calculated internuclear distances of Group 1 and Group 2 crystalline binary salts to a remarkable degree of accuracy, is applied to calculate metallic radii (equal to half the internuclear distances) of Group 1 and Group 2 metals precisely. A simple expression previously used to calculate lattice energies using the soft-sphere radii concept is used to calculate enthalpies of formation of Group 1 and Group 2 metal ions and results compare well with observed values. The work functions of Group 1 and Group 2 metals are shown to be inverse functions of the soft sphere ionic radii. http://pubs.sciepub.com/wjce/3/2/1/wjce-3-2-1.pdf metals metallic bonding metallic structure band theory metallic radii enthalpy of formation lattice energies work function free electron in metals electron sea model chemical bonding