Question

Do metals donate or accept electrons?

Answer 1

In ionic molecules, the metal acts as the positive ion or cation.
In order to take on a positive charge the atom must give away electron. Metals donate electrons.

Magnesium, `1s^2 2S^2 2p^6 3s^2`, would greedily give up the two electrons in the 3s orbital to become stable with at `2s^2 2p^6`.
This would make Magnesium have 12 protons and 10 electrons making it have a +2 charge.