CBSE Class 10 Answered

The alkali metals are a group of chemical elements in the periodic table and have the outer electronic configuration: ns¹. They are all shiny, soft, silvery, highly reactive metals at standard temperature and pressure and readily lose their outermost electron to form cations with charge +1. They can all be cut easily with a knife due to their softness.

The coinage metals are a group of three malleable ductile transition metals forming group 11 (formerly IB) of the periodic table: copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and gold (Au). Their outer electronic configuration is nd ¹⁰(n+1)s ¹. Although this is similar to that of alkali metals, the coinage metals have much higher ionization energies and higher (and positive) standard electrode potentials. Thus, they are much more difficult to oxidize and are more resistant to corrosion. They form a wide range of coordination compounds.