Question: From NCERT | NEET || [Difficult level:Easy] ||
Alkali metals are powerful reducing agents because:
A: these are metals
B: these are monovalent
С: their ionic radii are large
D: their ionization potential is low
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:
D: their ionization potential is low
Note: The reducing property of a reducing agent can be judged by many factors but the first preference must be given to ionisation energy. Also, size can be one of the factors but the option must contain atomic size in place of ionic size. .
Alkali metals are good reducing agents because alkali metals have one valence electron which they lose to attain stability. Alkali metals have the lowest ionization energy in each period and this is because they are having the largest atomic size in their respective period. Low ionization potential means electrons can be easily removed from the atom. This is so because the outermost electron is far from the nucleus. Since electrons are far from the nucleus therefore it is loosely bound and hence removal of these types of electrons requires less energy. Since it has low IP value therefore it can easily get oxidised and hence works as the best reducing agent........
NCERT REFERENCE
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