Final answer:
Metals can be bent because they have a metallic bonding structure with delocalized electrons, while ionic crystals cannot be bent due to strong electrostatic forces between ions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Metals can be bent and ionic crystals cannot due to their different bonding structures. In metals, the bonding is metallic, which means that the metal atoms are held together by a sea of delocalized electrons. This allows the atoms to slide past each other when a force is applied, making metals malleable and ductile.
On the other hand, ionic crystals have ionic bonding, where positive and negative ions are held together by strong electrostatic forces. These forces prevent the ions from easily moving past each other, making ionic crystals rigid and brittle. Applying a force to an ionic crystal causes like-charged ions to come too close to each other, resulting in the crystal shattering.