alkali metals
Synonyms
Examples
All the alkali metals react with water, with the heavier alkali metals reacting more vigorously than the lighter ones.
An effect of the instability of an odd number of either type of nucleons is that odd-numbered elements, such as the alkali metals, tend to have fewer stable isotopes than even-numbered elements.
As with all alkali metals, lithium fires are difficult to extinguish, requiring dry powder fire extinguishers ( Class D type).
Atoms that are weakly electronegative (such as alkali metals ) have relatively few valence electrons that can easily be shared with atoms that are strongly electronegative.
As with oxides, protactinium forms mixed halides with alkali metals.
Because the superoxide releases the most energy when formed, the superoxide is preferentially formed for the larger alkali metals where the more complex anions are not polarised.