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Francium Is The Most Reactive Metal Essay

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Francium is the most reactive metal. When an atom reacts, it either loses or gains electrons. You can compare the reactivity of atoms by observing how readily they react. The 2 most important things that affect the reactivity of a metal are the atomic radius and the ionization energy. Atomic radius is the distance between the outermost electron and the nucleus, and the ionization energy is the energy required to remove the most loosely-held electron, turning it into an ion. The larger the atomic radius, generally, the lower the ionization energy, and the more readily the atom will react. The distance between two charges is more important to the strength of the attraction than the magnitude of the charges. According to our lab, potassium sparked a violent fire in water, which was more …show more content…

And since the energy level here (4) is less than that of the prior blocks (6 and 5) the electrons are added to the inside of the atom, which will repel on the outer electrons, making the atom even larger. You could say that with these electrons comes more than 30 additional protons. But like I said, distance is most important than magnitude of the charges. Larger atom generally means lower ionization energy, and higher reactivity. Chemical reactivity is important to life. Whether it's in preparing food to make it taste good, or in taking the energy out of food so we can live, chemical reactivity is everywhere. Bonds are often the natural state of all the atoms on the periodic table. It’s useful to know the most readily reactive metal, so we can study why that is, and what makes it the most reactive. Francium is the most reactive metal, because of the logical extrapolation of the data. Because of the layout of the periodic table, and the trends present, we can have a greater understanding for the atomic structure of the elements, and what that means in relation to the other

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