How to differentiate a metal from its ion? I am working on metal and its ion. The problem is, I would like to know whether the metal has been converted to its ionic form or not.

The hypothesis for the analysis is that metals are good conductors and ions possess redox potential. Therefore, by measuring the conductance and red-ox potential is it possible to  differentiate whether I have metal or metal ion.

The questions are


Based on the hypothesis, can I expect a positive result?
Apart from this, is there any other technique where I can qualitatively / quantitatively measure  metal and its ion?
Other than the excellent answer by F'x, there is also actual spectroscopy, specifically UV/Vis spectroscopy. This'll only work if the metal has transitions in the right range, though -- transition metals, lanthanides and actinides are usually fine, s or p-block metals and metalloids, probably not.

Then you're looking for the absorption/transmission spectrum of the ion and the metal separately, and how much of each there is in a combined spectrum. It's not strictly quantitative, but you can get a good idea of the ratios.