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alkali metals are soft metals why?

Asked by Arun Mathew 1st February 2013, 3:18 AM
Answered by Expert
Answer:
The reason for softness of alkali metals lies in the metallic bonding in these metals in terms of bonding and anti bonding orbitals. In molecular orbitals, there are the s, p, d orbitals with corresponding anti-bonding orbitals. For alkali metals, the s orbital is only partially filled. This means that the bonds between each atom are weak because only a cloud of s-orbital electrons are holding them together. Hence, they have weak bonds between them and so have low melting and boiling points and are soft.
Answered by Expert 1st February 2013, 10:15 AM
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