Question

Sodium is less reactive than Potassium. Justify.

Answer 1

Chemical reactivity:-

• Chemical reactivity will describe how likely will an element react for the formation of the bonds with the other elements.
• This reactivity of an element is determined by the valence electrons.
• On moving down the group in the periodic table, the effective nuclear charge which is experienced by the valence electrons is getting decreased because of the outermost electrons which are far away from the nucleus.
• Due to this, the outermost electron of the Potassium can be easily removed so that it can react easily.

Hence, Sodium ($\mathrm{Na}$) is less reactive than Potassium ($\mathrm{K}$).