[cjp88]

I'm having trouble understanding what the most reactive metal is.  I've read that the bigger the metal the more reactive it is.  People have said that Fr - francium is the most reactive metal but I don't understand why when Ra - radium has a higher atomic molar mass then francium but is not the most reactive metal according to the people I've asked.   

EDIT: I think I found out why.  The metal with the least electronegative is the most reactive.  Since Fr is the lowest down and has 0.7 compared to Ra's 0.9 it would make Fr more reactive.

[Mitch]

More reactive with what? Be specific. Saying "Most reactive" is so general to render it a completely meaningless question

[cjp88]

I already got my answer from the last post, don't know why its gone now unless you or another person or the user deleted it.

I was asking about the reactivity of elements.

[Mitch]

The other post was deleted because it was wrong. Reactivity with what?

[cjp88]

With my lesson I'm on now in my course, the answer he provided wasn't wrong.  I was supposed to find the most reactive metal and non-metal based on the reactivity of elements using the periodic table.

I didn't understand why Fr was more reactive then Ra since my course was talking about how larger metals are more reactive but I found out after and as the other person had replied, it was because Fr has 0.7 electronegativity and Ra had 0.9.  Lower being more reactive with metals, and the higher being more reactive for non-metals like F which has 4.0.

I wasn't told to find what its more reactive with, however I believe it's with HCL(aq) because I did some tests with this to determine reactivity of metals a few days ago.  Buit the answer can be found with just the periodic table.

Pretty much what this page states, I was supposed to find the most reactive metal and non-metal.

http://www.nelsonthornes.com/secondary/science/scinet/scinet/reaction/react/periodic.htm

So my question has been answered and has been confirmed as correct with my teacher.

[AWK]

At beginning of teaching chemistry such simplifications are, unfortunately, often made
Note this scheme do not tell you you can safely compare  elements very close to each other only. Even then such comparisons may be dngerous:
eg lithium,  sodium and potassium react with dry air - lithium forms mainly Li3N (and small amount Li2O), sodium - Na2O2 and potassium - KO2. How to compare reactivity of these metals with oxygen

[djay]

Have you searched on the internet for the size of atoms of each metals?

A hint is that the alkaline metals are the biggest atoms on their respective row and more you go down in a column bigger is the atom. When I talk about the size, I talk especially about the distance between the electron cloud and the nucleus. Hope that rings a bell.

Lets just say that mixing Fr and F is probably the most powerful reaction in the inorganic chemistry.