Question

Alkali metals cannot be extracted by reduction of their oxides and other compounds because:
A. Alkali metals are strong reducing agents
B. Alkali metals have low ionization enthalpy
C. Alkali metals have high lattice enthalpy
D. Alkali metals are strong basic in nature

Answer 1

Group one elements in the periodic table are known as alkali metals; they are electropositive in nature, which is one of the reasons they are called metals since metals are electropositive in nature. Being electropositive means they can easily exist in the ${{\text{M}}^ + }$ state (M = alkali metal ).

Complete step by step answer:
Group 1 metals include H, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr elements.
Alkali earth metals have the valence of +1, which means they can easily lose one electron to get a noble gas configuration (except hydrogen). E.g., if Lithium(Li) loses one electron its electronic configuration becomes equals to that of Helium(He). Similarly, sodium ${\text{N}}{{\text{a}}^ + }$ has a stable electronic configuration as it is equivalent to that of Neon(Ne), with 10 electrons.

Being electropositive in nature, they are more favorable to losing an electron i.e., Oxidation, than gaining an electron i.e., reduction.

Due to this tendency of Alkali metals they act as a reducing agent( giving electrons to others). Hence, giving them electrons is not a good idea( which is exactly what happens in a reduction reaction)
Therefore, alkali metals are strong reducing agents.

The correct answer is option (A)

Note: Alkali metals have low 1st ionization enthalpy but very high 2nd ionization enthalpy i.e., removing the 1st outermost electron from their gaseous state is rather easy than removing the 2nd electron. Since ${{\text{M}}^ + }$ has a noble gas configuration that is highly stable.