Why are alkali metals volatile?

Answer 1

The alkali metals are the group 1 metals, lithium, sodium, potassium etc. There is only one valence electron involved in the metallic bond and therefore the bond is weaker. In comparison to the majority other metals they are generally low melting and have low boiling points. As an example sodium melts at about 98 C and boils at 883 C. The relatively low boiling point is an indication of their relatively low volatility. Note that volatility is normally a term associated with very low boiling point substances such as acetone, boiling point 56 C