Alkaline earth metals chemical

Introduction :
Alkaline earth metals are beryllium, magnesium, strontium, calcium, barium, and radium. These are the chemical elements that occupy the second column in the periodic table. In olden days when substances were insoluble in water and unchanged by fire they were referred to as earths. Thus the name uses of alkaline Earth metals.

Alkaline earth metals:

The alkaline-earth elements have a grey-white lustre when freshly cut. This lustre is tarnished readily when exposed to air. These metals are good conductors of electricity and highly metallic and. Beryllium is hard enough to scratch glass.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/53345/bariumBarium is the least hard of them all. The elements in this group have higher melting points and boiling points than those of the corresponding alkali metals;  and beryllium has the highest boiling and melting points(MP 1,283° and bop about 2,500°) and magnesium has the lowest boiling and melting point in this group (MP 650° C and bp 1,105° C)

Occurrence in Nature

• Magnesium and calcium are essential to all living organisms and found in abundance in several compounds.While calcium is needed for bone and teeth formation, magnesium is needed for the intercellular processes and enzyme formation in the body.
• Beryllium is least soluble and is very rarely found in nature. It is a toxic metal.

• Strontium and barium are less available. Strontium is found in marine aquatic life, like hard corals. Barium is used in some imaging studies.

• Radium is highly radioactive metal and has a low availability. Exposure to radium can be dangerous to life.

Alkaline earth metal compounds:

 The alkaline earth metals react with other elements to form compounds that are used in several applications. For example
Alkyl magnesium halides are used to synthetize organic compounds. Calcium carbonate is used for making limestone, marble, and chalkin the construction industry.Magnesium oxide (MgO) is used in wire insulation and as a material to refract furnace brick.

Conclusion on alkaline earth metals:

The alkaline earth metals are a useful group of metals. There are differences in physical properties among these metals. A detailed study of these metals gives new insights into the behaviour of these metals and the chemical differences between them.