Tuesday, July 23, 2013

What are the common properties in the Alkaline Earth Metals (group 2)?

Alkaline earth metals are located in group 2 of the periodic table of elements. The alkali earth metals include beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium and radium. There are certain common properties in these elements. These are listed here:


  • All the alkaline earth metals are metals.

  • These elements have a fully filled s-shell. 

  • These elements readily lose the 2 outermost electrons and form cations.

  • The oxidation number of the cations formed by these elements is +2.

  • These metals readily react with halogens (group 17 elements) to form halides, such as calcium chloride and magnesium chloride.

  • All these elements are silver-white and are soft.

  • All the alkaline earth metals occur naturally.

  • They have relatively low boiling and melting points.

  • All these elements have low electronegativities.

  • All the alkaline earth metals have low affinity for electrons.

Hope this helps. 

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