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Chemistry and Physics - What Are The Alkali Metalls?

What are the alkali metalls?

Alkali metals are the elements (pure substances that cannot be broken down into anything simpler by ordinary chemical means) listed on the left side of the periodic table. They include lithium (Li, element 3), potassium (K, element 19), rubidium (Rb, element 37), cesium (Cs, element 55), francium (Fr, element 87), and sodium (Na, element 11). The alkali metals are sometimes called the sodium family of elements, or Group I elements. Because they readily give up electrons (negatively charged particles) and form positive ions (an ion is a molecule or atom that has lost one or more electrons and is, therefore, electrically charged), none exist in nature in the elemental state (with their full complement of protons and electrons).

Sources: The Facts on File Dictionary of Chemistry, Rev. and enl. ed., p. 7; Tzimopoulos, Nicholas D., et al. Modern Chemistry, p. 713.

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