Group 1 and 2 General Trends

Cation
Flame Test Ionisation
Element Why? Reactivity Why? Polarising Why? Solubility of Sulphate Solubility of Hydroxide
Colour Energy
Ability

Group 1

Crimson Red Decreases • Increasing Increases • Formation Decreases • Same

Li
Down the atom size. Down the of M+ ions. Down the charge.
Group Group Group.
Yellow
Na • Decrease in • Ionisation • Increasing
effective energy size of ion.
K Lilac nuclear decreases All Soluble All Soluble
charge. down the • Decreasing
Red-Violet group. charge
Rb
• Increase in density.
Blue-Violet shielding.
Cs

Group 2

Be
Colourless Decreases • Increasing Increases • Formation Decreases • Same Decreases • Be to Mg Increases • Be to Mg
Down the atom size. Down the of M2+ ions. Down the charge. down the Soluble. down the insoluble.
Group Group Group group. group.
Colourless
Mg • Decrease in • Ionisation • Increasing • Ca sparingly • Ca sparingly
effective energy size of ion. soluble. soluble.
Brick Red nuclear decreases
Ca
charge. down the • Decreasing • Sr to Ba • Sr to Ba
group. charge
Red insoluble. soluble.
Sr • Increase in density.
shielding.
Pale Green

Ba

Tests
Procedure Why some elements don’t show a flame
colour?
• Dip Nichrome loop in hydrochloric acid to clean it.
• Dip loop in salt of group 1 or 2. An electron is promoted when the sample is
Flame Tests
• Heat loop in blue Bunsen flame and observe the colour. heated but then energy gap is wider and the
photon that is released is in the UV region of the
EM spectrum and therefore no colour is seen.

Procedure Ionic Equations

Formation of carbon dioxide:
• Add hydrochloric acid to the salt sample and place a bung with
Test for Carbonate and a delivery tube in and bubble the resulting gas through CO32-(aq) + 2H+(aq) → CO2(g) + H2O(l)
Hydrogencarbonate ions limewater (Ca(OH)2(aq)).
(CO32- and HCO32-) • Bubbling (effervescence) is the key observation. Reaction of CO2 with limewater:
• The limewater will go cloudy if it is a positive test.
CO2(g) + Ca2+(aq) + 2OH-(aq) → CaCO3(s) + H2O(l)

Procedure Ionic Equations

• Dissolve a small portion of the salt in a few millilitres of water. Ba2+(aq) + SO42-(aq) → BaSO4(s)
• Add dilute nitric or hydrochloric acid – this will remove any
carbonate ions that can give a false positive.
Test for Sulphate ions (SO42-) • Add barium chloride solution to the salt solution.
• If sulphate ions are present a white precipitate of BaSO4 will be
formed.

Procedure Ionic Equations

• Dissolve a small portion of the salt in a few millilitres of Chloride: Ag+(aq) + Cl-(aq) → AgCl(s)
water.
• Add nitric acid followed by silver nitrate solution. Bromide: Ag+(aq) + Br-(aq) → AgBr(s)
Test for chloride (Cl-), • Note colour of precipitate.
bromide (Br-) and iodide (I-) • Add dilute ammonia first and see if the precipitate dissolves. Iodide: Ag+(aq) + I-(aq) → AgI(s)
• If it does not dissolve with dilute ammonia, add concentrated
ammonia to try and dissolve the precipitate.

Procedure Ionic Equations

• Add dilute sodium hydroxide to the salt and heat gently. NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) → NH3(g) + H2O(l)
• Any ammonium ions will be turned into ammonia gas.
• Hold a dampened red litmus paper over the test tube - if it
Test for ammonium ions
turns blue ammonia is present.
(NH4+)
Thermal Stability of Group 1 and 2 Carbonates and Nitrates
Carbonates Stability of Carbonates and nitrates increases down the groups.
The less polarising the cation the more stable.
Group 1 (excluding Lithium):
Explanation:
No decomposition with heating. Only lithium has a high enough charge density to polarise the carbonate
ion sufficiently. A cation with a high charge density can polarise the carbonate or the nitrate ions.
Group 2 and Lithium: In carbonates this causes the breaking of a carbon-oxygen bond which results in an oxide
and carbon dioxide.
Li2CO3(s) + heat → Li2O(s) + CO2(g)
In group 2 nitrates and lithium nitrates the nitrogen-oxygen bond is weakened which
MCO3(s) (M = Be to Ba) + heat → MO(s) + CO2(g) results in an oxide, nitrogen dioxide (brown fumes) and oxygen.

In group 1 nitrates (excluding lithium) lesser decomposition occurs which results in a nitrite
salt and oxygen.
Nitrates
Practical Set up:
Group 1 (excluding Lithium):

Lesser decomposition

2MNO3(s) (M = Na to Cs) + heat → 2MNO2(s) + O 2(g) (No brown fumes)

Group 2 and Lithium:

Greater decomposition

4LiNO3(s) + heat → 2Li2O(s) + 4NO2(g) + O2(g) (Brown fumes of NO2 seen)

2M(NO3)2(s) (M = Be to Ba) + heat → 2MO(s) + 4NO2(g) + O2(g) (Brown fumes of NO2 seen)

Reactions of Group 2 Metals (M = Be to Ba) Reaction of Group 2 Hydroxides and Oxides.

With Oxygen Oxides with water

Uses of Hydroxides:
2M(s) + O2(g) → 2MO(s) (M = Be to Ba)
• Water treatment
With Chlorine MO + H2O → M(OH)2 • Neutralising acidic soil
• Making whitewash, mortar and plaster
M(s) + Cl2(g) → MCl2(s) (M = Be to Ba)

With Water Oxides with Acids

Beryllium – No reaction with water MO + 2HCl → MCl2 + H2O

MO + 2HNO3 → M(NO3)2 + H2O
Magnesium – Reacts with steam – Mg(s) + H2O(g) → MgO(s) + H2(g) MO + H2SO4 → MSO4 + H2O

Calcium to Barium - M(s) + 2H2O(l) → M(OH)2(aq) + H2(g)

Hydroxides with Acids

M(OH)2 + 2HCl → MCl2 + 2H2O

M(OH)2 + 2HNO3 → M(NO3)2 + 2H2O
M(OH)2 + H2SO4 → MSO4 + 2H2O

Barium meal Slaked lime

BaSO4 Ca(OH)2

Milk of magnesia
Mg used to extract Ti from the ore rutile (TiO2)
Mg(OH)2
TiO2 + 2C + Cl2 TiCl4 + 2CO

TiCl4 + 2Mg Ti + 2MgCl2