The valance electrons that are very loosely attached to the nucleus of an atom and can be easily detached are called free electrons. These free electrons are so loosely attached to the nucleus that they do not know the atom to which they belong originally. Thus, they move from one atom to the other at random in the metal itself. It has been observed that in the metals, all the valence electrons are not the free electrons at a time. In fact, one atom can provide only one free electron at a time. However, a small piece of metal has similar number of atoms and free electrons (i.e., billions of atoms and free electrons)
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