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ALKALI METALS This essay intends to examine and critically analyse Alkali Metals. The chemical elements that are identified as alkali metals are lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and the extremely rare radioactive substance called francium. They occupy the first column of the periodic table of the elements. The alkali metals are so called because they form alkalies--that is, strong bases capable of neutralizing acids--when they combine with other elements. Alkali metals bear little resemblance to more familiar metals such as iron and tin. They are silver-white in colour, malleable, and soft enough to cut with a knife. The alkali metals are the most chemically active of all metals, readily forming ions with a single positive electric charge. This property is a consequence of their atoms having only a single, highly mobile electron in the outermost shell. Alkali metals react rapidly, sometimes violently, with both oxygen and water. Because of their reactivity,...

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