Alkali metal

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Alkali metals are a group of soft, white, highly reactive metallic elements, including lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium. Low typical ionization energies give these elements their metallic behavior and high reactivities.

# Ionic states[edit]

Occupying the left-most column of the periodic table, alkali atoms have a single valence electron and are readily ionized by its removal, resulting in an ionic charge of +1. Subsequent ionization to more highly charged states requires considerably more energy, as singly-ionized alkali atoms have a noble-gas configuration of electrons (I.e., the outer shell of electrons is completely filled.)