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Home Science Chemistry

Great video shows alkali metal reactions with air and water

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
June 2, 2011
in Chemistry, Videos
Reading Time: 1 min read
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Here is the video, go watch it (it will rock your world if you don’t know your chemistry – and even if you do, it’s still great to watch). I’ll come back with a short explanation after the video.

Alkali metals are a series of metals from Mendeleev’s periodic table; you can find them right under Hydrogen, which is the first element. They include lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium. All the metals are highly reactive under standard conditions, which is why you see all the air corrosion and the violent reactions to water. As you go down the group, the reactions become more and more violent. The typical reaction is:
Alkali metal + water → Alkali metal hydroxide + hydrogen gas

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Tags: alkali metalscesiumlithiumpotassium
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Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

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