Final answer:
Alkali metals, including lithium, sodium, and potassium, react vigorously with water to produce hydrogen gas and a basic metal hydroxide solution, with reactivity increasing down the group.
Step-by-step explanation:
Yes, there is a trend in which the alkali metals react with water. The alkali metals, which include lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium, all react vigorously with water to produce hydrogen gas and a basic solution of the metal hydroxide. This is because alkali metals are more easily oxidized than is hydrogen, indicating their strong reactivity and lower ionization energy compared to other elements.
The reactivity of alkali metals with water increases as you move down the group in the periodic table. For instance, lithium reacts with water less vigorously than cesium does. As you watch different alkaline metals being exposed to water, such as in the provided video, you will observe that the reactions become more violent with the heavier alkali metals.
The reaction of alkali metals with water is representative of their general properties: they are highly reactive metals with a strong tendency to lose their single valence electron to form cations with a +1 charge.
The reactions of these metals with water are not only a fascinating demonstration of chemical reactivity but also a clear indication of the trends in reactivity within the group 1 elements of the periodic table.