Question

do the alkaline earth metals tend to gain or lose electrons in chemical reactions

Answer 1

Since, alkaline earth metals belongs to group 2 (II) and they all are metals. So, alkaline earth metals will lose the electron in the chemical reactions to get the electronic configurations of the noble gases which is stable configurations. Since, the alkaline earth metals belongs to group 2 (II) so, it can lose up to two electrons to get the noble gases which is stable configurations because they have only two electrons in their valence shell. Alkaline earth metals forms positive ions having +2 positive charge. All the alkaline earth metals are highly reactive but less than that of alkaline metals. No gain of electrons in case of alkaline earth metals only loss of electrons takes place in the chemical reactions to get the noble gases electronic configuration which is more stable.