Why are metallic crystals malleable and ductile? a. the electrons are free floating, allowing them to move with the atoms when the metal is struck and the crystal lattice shifts. b. the free floating electrons conduct energy easily, and disperse the energy of being hit by a hammer or other tool, allowing them to be molded and not break. c. the crystal lattice is made of very strong ionic bonds that take a lot of energy to break. d. the atoms are arranged with alternating positive and negative charges. when struck, the lattice shifts putting positives against positives and negatives against negatives.

D. The atoms are arranged with alternating positive and negative charges. When struck, the lattice shifts putting positives against positives and negatives against negatives.

Explanation:

Metallic crystals takes their properties as a result of metallic bonds in between the atoms.

Metallic bond is actually the attraction between the positive nuclei of all the closely packed atoms in the lattice and the electron cloud jointly formed by all the atoms by losing their outermost shell electrons this is by virtue of their low ionization energy.

Physical properties of metals such as malleability, ductility, electrical conductivity, etc can be accounted for by metallic bonds.