During a laboratory demonstration, a teacher adds small, equal-sized pieces of lithium and sodium separately to troughs of water. The teacher notes that sodium reacts far more vigorously than lithium, melting into a ball and moving rapidly across the water's surface, whereas lithium reacts more slowly without melting.
The electronic configurations of lithium and sodium are:
Both elements react by losing their outer-shell electron to form 1+1+1+ ions.
Explain, in terms of their electronic configurations, why sodium is more reactive than lithium.
