Question

How do you use the periodic table to recall the lonic charge of an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal, or aluminum?

Answer 1

So, group 1 elements (alkali metals) have 1 valence electron; gropup 2 elements (alkaline earth metal) have 2 valence electrons; and group 13 elements (to which aluminum belongs) have 3 valence electrons. The ionic charge of these metals equals the last digit of the group number.