Chemistry and Physics | What Are The Alkaline Earth Metals?
What are the alkaline earth metals?
Alkaline earth metals are beryllium (Be, element 4), magnesium (Mg, element 12), calcium (Ca, element 20), strontium (Sr, element 38), barium (Ba, element 56), and radium (Ra, element 88). The alkaline earth metals, which are moderately reactive metals, are also called Group II elements (Elements are pure substances that cannot be broken down into anything simpler by ordinary chemical means.) Like the alkali metals, they readily give up electrons (negatively charged particles) and are never found in the elemental state in nature. (Elemental state means that these metals have their full complement of protons and electrons.) The alkaline earth metals are harder than the alkali metals and don't convert as easily to the gaseous state. The alkaline earth metals all burn in air.
Sources: The Facts On File Dictionary of Chemistry, Rev. and enl. ed., p. 7; Tzimopoulos, Nicholas D.,...
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