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The heavier alkaline earth metals react more vigorously than the lighter ones. [2] The alkaline earth metals have the second-lowest first ionization energies in their respective periods of the periodic table [4] because of their somewhat low effective nuclear charges and the ability to attain a full outer shell configuration by losing just two ...
Radium is the heaviest known alkaline earth metal and is the only radioactive member of its group. Its physical and chemical properties most closely resemble its lighter congener, barium. [4] Pure radium is a volatile, lustrous silvery-white metal, even though its lighter congeners calcium, strontium, and barium have a slight yellow tint. [4]
As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to its heavier homologues strontium and barium. It is the fifth most abundant element in Earth's crust, and the third most abundant metal, after iron and aluminium.
The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties.All elemental metals have a shiny appearance (at least when freshly polished); are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide.
The physical and chemical properties of the alkali metals can be readily explained by their having an ns 1 valence electron configuration, which results in weak metallic bonding. Hence, all the alkali metals are soft and have low densities, [5] melting [5] and boiling points, [5] as well as heats of sublimation, vaporisation, and dissociation.
Barium found in the Earth's crust is a mixture of seven primordial nuclides, barium-130, 132, and 134 through 138. [15] Barium-130 undergoes very slow radioactive decay to xenon -130 by double beta plus decay , with a half-life of (0.5–2.7)×10 21 years (about 10 11 times the age of the universe).
An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly chemically reactive. The metal forms a dark oxide layer when it is exposed to air. Strontium has physical and chemical properties similar to those of its two vertical neighbors in the periodic table, calcium and barium.
Physical properties Elemental magnesium is a gray-white lightweight metal, two-thirds the density of aluminium. Magnesium has the lowest melting (923 K (650 °C)) and the lowest boiling point (1,363 K (1,090 °C)) of all the alkaline earth metals.