How does the reaction between alkali metals and water take place?
A typically sodium hydroxide solution in water at equilibrium has a few sodium ions floating around with a few hydroxide ions. I get the impression this is the “default” position to be in for water whenever sodium or some other base is present. When you stick a ton of alkali metal in water, I think it still needs to produce the hydroxide ions in order to provide a stable chemical equilibrium (I think electrons get torn from the sodium and to the water molecules, in which hydroxide no longer needs a hydrogen atom to “share” an electron, and due to its high electronegativity is capable of picking up an extra electron.) At this point, the system goes from a state of higher energy to a state of lower energy (entropy change for a new equilibrium), and so there is heat lost in the reaction. However, another product of the reaction is a lot of hydrogen gas (about half the quantity [not weight] of whatever metal was used). The heat from the earlier reaction causes the hydrogen molecules to com
