In reply to Eric Walker's message of Tue, 10 Nov 2015 00:47:22 -0600: Hi, [snip]
The ionization energy of the alkali metals gets higher as they get smaller, ergo they get less reactive. >I wrote: > >Thermite has aluminum in it, so the above reaction for aluminum could >> apply. That makes lithium the party crasher. >> > >It did occur to me, however, that lithium does not violently explode in >water in the same way that the others do. It just kind of sets on fire and >burns. This could be what the normal oxidation looks like without a beta >decay component that the others might have. > >Eric Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
