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Alkali metals.
Alkali metals
alkali metals have one valence electron and halogens have 7. since elements always want to have a full outer shell, these two types of elements react easily with each other to form a full outer shell of 8 electrons.
Within the alkali metals, or group 1, the ionization energy trend is that ionization energy decreases as you move down the group from top to bottom. This is because with each step down, you add an energy level, therefore the one valence electron is farther and farther from the atom's nucleus. So, the attraction between the nucleus and that electron (its electronegativity) decreases. This makes it easier (requires less energy), making the element more reactive. For example, cesium is more reactive than rubidium, which is more reactive than potassium, which is more reactive than sodium...
Cs has a lower ionisation energy than Na.Cs has more electrons (44 more electron) than Na. The electrons in the outer electronshell are further away from the positive nucleus because there are many more electron shells.Because the valence electrons are further from the nucleus they are not held as tightly by the atom, this means that it takes less energy to remove the electron in the outer electron shell from Cs.So it is more reactive.
In common with all the other Alkali Metals, Rubidium has one valence electron.
The alkali metals easily yield the one electron found in their valence shell, to bond with other elements. Since it takes so little energy to remove this electron from an alkali metal (i.e., they have a low ionization energy) these metals are never found in nature in their elemental forms (they are too reactive; i.e., their atoms so easily bond to other atoms).
Francium is an alkaline metal, which means that its one electron is easily given away, making it highly reactive. Because the atom is so large, there is a shielding effect between the protons in the nucleus, and the valence electron. This blocks the attractive forces, and the other layers of electrons work to repel the valence electron, decreasing the ionization energy even further. The low ionization energy is what makes francium so reactive, that none of it can be isolated effectively.
Alkali metals.
Alkali metals
Alkali metals
alkali metals have one valence electron and halogens have 7. since elements always want to have a full outer shell, these two types of elements react easily with each other to form a full outer shell of 8 electrons.
Within the alkali metals, or group 1, the ionization energy trend is that ionization energy decreases as you move down the group from top to bottom. This is because with each step down, you add an energy level, therefore the one valence electron is farther and farther from the atom's nucleus. So, the attraction between the nucleus and that electron (its electronegativity) decreases. This makes it easier (requires less energy), making the element more reactive. For example, cesium is more reactive than rubidium, which is more reactive than potassium, which is more reactive than sodium...
Cs has a lower ionisation energy than Na.Cs has more electrons (44 more electron) than Na. The electrons in the outer electronshell are further away from the positive nucleus because there are many more electron shells.Because the valence electrons are further from the nucleus they are not held as tightly by the atom, this means that it takes less energy to remove the electron in the outer electron shell from Cs.So it is more reactive.
Alkali Metals (group 1) because they only need to lose one electron in order to have a stable valence level of 8. As you go down the alkali metals group, the elements become more reactive. So Francium is the most reactive alkali metal. Also, Halogens, because they already have 7 electrons and only need to gain one in order to have a stable valence level of 8. As you go up the halogens group, the elements become more reactive. So Fluorine is the most reactive halogen. This is just a brief summary, if you want to know the reasons why this is I suggest you search about ionization energy, electron affinity, and electronegativity because these are all what make an element "reactive."
Alkali metals (group 1 elements) have one valence electron. Hence have one ionization energy Alkaline earth metals (group 2 elements) have two valence electron. Hence have two ionization energy
The atomic radius of potassium is greater than that of sodium. Therefore, the single valence electron that exists for all alkali metals is located farther from the nucleus for potassium than sodium. This results in less energy required to remove that valence electron from potassium than from sodium, leading to increased reactivity. Note that this trend continues as you move down Group I on the Periodic Table, meaning that Rubidium is more reactive than Potassium and Cesium is more reactive than Rubidium.