The most common alkali metal is sodium, which is 2.8 percent of Earth’s crust. The most common sodium compound is sodium chloride (NaCl), salt. The next most common is potassium, which is 2.6 percent of Earth’s crust. The other alkali metals are much rarer. Rubidium, lithium, and cesium are 0.01, 0.002, and 0.0007 percent of Earth’s crust, respectively. Francium is radioactive, and only minute amounts of it exist in nature.
What is the most common alkali metal?
What is the definition of an alkali metal?
The alkali metals are six chemical elements in Group 1, the leftmost column in the periodic table. They are lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), cesium (Cs), and francium (Fr). (Like the other elements in Group 1, hydrogen (H) has one electron in its outermost shell, but it is not classed as an alkali metal since it is not a metal but a gas at room temperature.)
