What is the primary reason for the high reactivity of alkali metals?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the primary reason for the high reactivity of alkali metals?
High electronegativity
Low ionization energy
High atomic radius
Presence of d-orbitals
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the primary reason for the high reactivity of alkali metals?
Correct Answer: Alkali metals have low ionization energy.
Step 1: Understand what alkali metals are. They are the elements in Group 1 of the periodic table, like lithium, sodium, and potassium.
Step 2: Learn about ionization energy. This is the energy needed to remove an electron from an atom.
Step 3: Realize that alkali metals have low ionization energy. This means it takes very little energy to remove their outermost electron.
Step 4: Recognize that when an alkali metal loses its outer electron, it becomes a positively charged ion. This process happens easily because of the low ionization energy.
Step 5: Conclude that because alkali metals can easily lose their outer electron, they are very reactive with other elements, especially nonmetals.
