Alkaline Earth Metals

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The alkaline earth metals are a group of chemical elements in the periodic table with very similar properties. They are all shiny, silvery-white, somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and pressure and readily lose their two outermost electrons to form cations with charge 2+ and an oxidation state, or oxidation number of +2. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, the alkaline earth metals comprise the group 2 elements.

The alkaline earth metals are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra). This group lies in the s-block of the periodic table as all alkaline earth metals have their outermost electron in an s-orbital.

All the alkaline earth metals have relatively low densities, melting points, and boiling points. In chemical terms, all of the alkaline metals react with the halogens to form the alkaline earth metal halides, all of which being ionic crystalline compounds (except for beryllium chloride, which is covalent). All the alkaline earth metals except beryllium also react with water to form strongly alkaline hydroxides.

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