(iii) Some salts of potassium are used as fertilizers. It is also an excellent absorber of carbon dioxide. (i) It is used as a reducing agent in chemical reactions.(ii) Potassium hydroxide is used in the manufacture of toilet soaps. (iii) In the molten state, it is used in nuclear reactors as a heat transfer medium.
(ii) Sodium vapour lamps are used for lighting. (i) An alloy of sodium amalgam is used in the preparation of several compounds. (ii) Lithium hydroxide is used in the manufacture of some lubricants.(iii) It is used as a deoxidizer in the purification of copper and nickel. (i) An alloy of lithium with lead is used in electrical cables
Only the electrolytic method is suitable because of the highly reactive nature of alkali metals. These metals, therefore, liberate hydrogen from water, acids, and acetylene.Īttempt Mock Tests Extraction of Alkali MetalsĪlkali metals generally are extracted by the electrolysis of their ores. The members of alkali metals are powerful reducing agents since they have low ionization energy. Reducing Character – The reducing nature of an element is expressed in terms of its electrons releasing tendency. They thus have \(\mathrm\) where M is an alkali metal, and X is a halogen.Ħ. They contain only one s-electron outside the noble gas core. The alkali metals are included in the s-block since the elements have one electron each in the s-subshell of their atoms. Electronic Configuration of Alkali Metals Francium occurs only in minute traces in nature as an intermediate step in some obscure side branches of the natural decay chains. Nevertheless, all of the discovered alkali metals occur in nature in the form of compounds- in order of abundance, sodium is the most abundant, followed by potassium, lithium, rubidium, caesium, and francium, which is very rare due to its high radioactivity.
Learn Exam Concepts on Embibe Occurrence of Alkali MetalsĪlkali metals are highly reactive metals and hence, do not occur in the free state in nature. Instead, it is included because of the similarity of the electronic configuration with these elements. Though hydrogen is placed in the first group of the periodic table, it is not an alkali metal.