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Grade 12th passInorganic Chemistry

Hello ,
i want to ask why softness of alkali metals increases from lithium to cesium .
Thank you .

Profile image of Prerna
10 Years agoGrade 12th pass
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1 Answer

Profile image of Bhavya
10 Years ago
There being only a single electron per atom in alkali metals, the metallic bonding is not so strong. As the result, the metals are soft in nature. However, the softness increases with increase in atomic number due to continuous decrease in metallic bond strength on account of an increase in atomic size.