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What are the alkali metals?

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What is the electron structure of alkali metals?

The alkali metals all have one electron in their outer shell.

lithium2,1

sodium2,8,1

potassium2,8,8,1

They are found in group 1 of the periodic table.

They have similar physical and chemical properties.

This means that:

They can readily lose the outer shell electron to form positive ions with a +1 charge and a full outer shell.

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How do you identify alkali metals?

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What is the trend in density?

The alkali metals generally become more dense going down the group, but the trend is not perfect because potassium is less dense than sodium.

Water has a density of 1 g/dm3.

Element Density (g/dm3)

lithium

potassiumsodium

rubidiumcaesium

0.530.970.861.531.87

Which elements in group 1 will float on water?

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What are the trends in melting point?

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What are the trends in boiling point?

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Properties of alkali metals quiz

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