Group 2the Alkaline Earth Metals

Group 2-
The Alkaline Earth Metals
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Group 2 - The Alkaline Earth Metals
The elements of Group 2, the Alkaline Earth Metals, are:

• symbol electron configuration
• beryllium Be [He]2s2
• magnesium Mg [Ne]3s2
• calcium Ca [Ar]4s2
• strontium Sr [Kr]5s2
• Barium Ba [Xe]6s2
• radium Ra [Rn]7s2
The last element, radium, is radioactive and will not be considered here.
Appearance
• The Group 2 elements are all metals with a shiny, silvery-white colour.
General Reactivity
• The alkaline earth metals are high in the reactivity series of metals, but not as high as the alkali
metals of Group 1.
• Occurrence and Extraction
• These elements are all found in the Earth’s crust, but not in the elemental form as they are so
reactive. Instead, they are widely distributed in rock structures. The main minerals in which
magnesium is found are carnellite, magnesite and dolomite. Calcium is found in chalk, limestone,
gypsum and anhydrite. Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and
calcium is the fifth.
Physical Properties
Atomic radii
• You can see that the atomic
radius increases as you go
down the Group. Notice that
beryllium has a particularly
small atom compared with the
rest of the Group.
• Explaining the increase in
atomic radius
• The radius of an atom is
governed by
• the number of layers of
electrons around the nucleus
• the pull the outer electrons feel
from the nucleus.
Compare beryllium and
magnesium:
• Be 1s2 2s2
• Mg 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2
Trends in First Ionisation Energy
• First ionisation energy

is the energy needed
to remove the most
loosely held electron
from each of one
mole of gaseous
atoms to make one
mole of singly
charged gaseous ions Notice that first ionisation energy falls as you go down the group.
First ionization energy
 Explaining the decrease in first ionisation energy
 Ionisation energy is governed by
 the charge on the nucleus,
 the amount of screening by the inner electrons,
 the distance between the outer electrons and the nucleus.
 As you go down the Group, the increase in nuclear charge is exactly
offset by the increase in the number of inner electrons. Just as when
we were talking about atomic radius further up this page, in each of
the elements in this Group, the outer electrons feel a net attraction
of 2+ from the centre.
 However, as you go down the Group, the distance between the
nucleus and the outer electrons increases and so they become easier
to remove - the ionisation energy falls.
Electronegativity
• Electronegativity is a measure of
the tendency of an atom to attract
a bonding pair of electrons. It is
usually measured on the Pauling
scale, on which the most
electronegative element (fluorine)
is given an electronegativity of 4.0
•
• All of these elements have a low
electronegativity. (Remember that
the most electronegative element,
fluorine, has an electronegativity
of 4.0.) Notice that
electronegativity falls as you go
down the Group. The atoms
become less and less good at
attracting bonding pairs of
electrons.
Explaining the decrease in electronegativity
• Imagine a bond between a magnesium
atom and a chlorine atom. Think of it to start
with as a covalent bond - a pair of shared
electrons. The electron pair will be dragged
towards the chlorine end because there is a
much greater net pull from the chlorine
nucleus than from the magnesium one.
• The electron pair ends up so close to the

chlorine that there is essentially a transfer of
an electron to the chlorine - ions are formed.
• The large pull from the chlorine nucleus is
why chlorine is much more electronegative
than magnesium is.
• As the metal atoms get bigger, any bonding

pair gets further and further away from the
metal nucleus, and so is less strongly
attracted towards it. In other words, as you
go down the Group, the elements become
less electronegative.
Trends in melting and boiling points
Melting and Boiling points
Melting point and boiling point decreases steadily down

the group. This is because the ionic radii increase down
the group increasing charge separation between the
metal cations of the lattice and the free delocalised
electrons. This weakens the electrical attractive bonding
force and so less thermal KE is needed to weaken the
lattice to the 'collapse point' i.e. melting. BUT the
situation is not as simple as might be expected, e.g. the
metal ions do not always have the same crystal lattice
packing arrangement
Chemical Properties
Reaction with water
The Group 2 metals become more reactive towards water as you go down
the Group.
Beryllium
Beryllium has no reaction with water or steam even at red heat.
Magnesium
Magnesium burns in steam to produce magnesium oxide and
hydrogen.
Very clean magnesium has a very slight reaction with cold water. The
reaction soon stops because the magnesium hydroxide formed is
almost insoluble in water and forms a barrier on the magnesium
preventing further reaction.
 Calcium, strontium and barium
 These all react with cold water with increasing vigour to give the
metal hydroxide and hydrogen. Strontium and barium have
reactivities similar to lithium in Group 1 of the Periodic Table.
The equation for the reactions of any of these metals would be:
 The hydroxides aren't very soluble, but they get more soluble as
you go down the Group. The calcium hydroxide formed shows up
mainly as a white precipitate (although some does dissolve). You
get less precipitate as you go down the Group because more of
the hydroxide dissolves in the water.
Explaining the trend in
reactivity
 Beryllium as a special case
 There is an additional reason for the lack of
reactivity of beryllium compared with the rest
of the Group. Beryllium has a strong resistant
layer of oxide on its surface which lowers its
reactivity. (This is just like the aluminium
case that you are probably familiar with.) If
you add that to the trends explained below,
beryllium turns out to be very unreactive.
The reactions with oxygen
 Formation of simple oxides

 On the whole, the metals burn in oxygen to form a
simple metal oxide.
 Beryllium is reluctant to burn unless it is in the form
of dust or powder. Beryllium has a very strong (but
very thin) layer of beryllium oxide on its surface, and
this prevents any new oxygen getting at the
underlying beryllium to react with it.
Thermal stability of group2
carbonates
• All the carbonates in this Group undergo thermal decomposition
to give the metal oxide and carbon dioxide. Thermal
decomposition is the term given to splitting up a compound by
heating it.
• If "X" represents any one of the elements:
• As you go down the Group, the carbonates have to be heated

more strongly before they will decompose.
• The carbonates become more stable to heat as you go down the

Group.
Thermal stability of carbonates due
to polarisability
• The positive ion attracts the delocalised
electrons in the carbonate ion towards itself.
The carbonate ion becomes polarised.
• If this is heated, the carbon dioxide breaks
free to leave the metal oxide.
• How much you need to heat the carbonate
before that happens depends on how
polarised the ion was. if it is highly
polarised, you need less heat than if it is
only slightly polarised.
• The smaller the positive ion is, the higher
the charge density, and the greater effect it
will have on the carbonate ion. As the
positive ions get bigger as you go down the
Group, they have less effect on the
carbonate ions near them. To compensate
for that, you have to heat the compound
more in order to persuade the carbon
dioxide to break free and leave the metal
oxide.
• In other words, as you go down the Group,
the carbonates become more thermally
stable.
Thermal stability of Group2 nitrates
• All the nitrates in this Group undergo thermal
decomposition to give the metal oxide, nitrogen dioxide
and oxygen.
• Again, if "X" represents any one of the elements:
• As you go down the Group, the nitrates also have to be

heated more strongly before they will decompose.
• The nitrates also become more stable to heat as you go

down the Group.
Why the thermal stability of the metals nitrates increases
down the group?
• The argument is exactly the same here as that in

carbonates. The small positive ions at the top of
the Group polarise the nitrate ions more than the
larger positive ions at the bottom
The reason, once more, is that the polarising
power of the X2+ decreases as ionic radius
increases.
Solubility of group II sulphates
The solubility of these sulphates decreases as we descend the

group, with barium sulphate being insoluble in water.
Two factors are involved in dissolving:

• Lattice energy
• Enthalpy of hydration.
• Due to the large size of the sulphate anion there is little difference
between the lattice energies for these compounds. However, due to
the change in ionic radius (i.e. charge density), there is significant
difference in terms of their ability to hydrate.
• The greater the charge density the easier it is for the cation to hydrate
and hence dissolve in water due to greater attraction with the polar
water molecules.
• Magnesium sulphate dissolves in water whereas barium sulphate
does not.
The relationship between enthalpy of
solution and solubility
• The assumption is made that the more
endothermic (or less exothermic) the
enthalpy of solution is, the less soluble the
compound.
• So sulphates and carbonates become less
soluble as you go down the Group;
hydroxides become more soluble.
Reactions of group 1 and group
2 oxides with cold water.
• All of the oxides react to give the hydroxide; peroxides
and superoxides give other products as well. Group 1
hydroxides are water-soluble, group 2 oxides are
sparingly soluble apart from barium hydroxide which is
fairly soluble.
MgO(s) +H2O(l) Mg(OH)2(aq)
• All the group 2 oxides react similarly; the hydroxides are

sparingly soluble and give white suspensions except for
barium hydroxide. Calcium oxide reacts very
exothermically.
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Group 2-

The Alkaline Earth Metals

The elements of Group 2, the Alkaline Earth Metals, are:

• First ionisation energy

• The electron pair ends up so close to the

• As the metal atoms get bigger, any bonding

Melting point and boiling point decreases steadily down

 Formation of simple oxides

• As you go down the Group, the carbonates have to be heated

• The carbonates become more stable to heat as you go down the

• As you go down the Group, the nitrates also have to be

• The nitrates also become more stable to heat as you go

• The argument is exactly the same here as that in

The solubility of these sulphates decreases as we descend the

Two factors are involved in dissolving:

MgO(s) +H2O(l) Mg(OH)2(aq)

• All the group 2 oxides react similarly; the hydroxides are

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