Lithium resembles magnesium in some of its properties. Mention two such properties and give reasons for this resemblance.
Lithium has some properties which resemble the properties of the second element of Group 2, magnesium. This is known as a diagonal relationship in the periodic table.
(i) Lithium and magnesium are both lighter and harder than the other metals in their respective groups.
(ii) Halides of both elements, LiCl and MgCl2 are soluble in ethanol.
(iii) Both lithium and magnesium form a nitride Li3N and Mg3N2 respectively.
These two elements have similar properties because of their similar atomic and ionic radii.