Alkali Metal

Name:
Alkali Metal
Detailed information:
A metal in group IA of the periodic table, i.e., lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium. Except for francium, the alkali metals are all soft, silvery metals, which may be readily fused and volatilized; the melting and boiling points becoming lower with increasing atomic weight. The density increases with (but less rapidly than) the atomic weight, the atomic volume therefore becoming greater as the series is ascended. The alkali metals are the most strongly electropositive of the metals. They react vigorously, at times violently, with water; within the group itself, the basicity increases with atomic weight, that of cesium being the greatest.