<P> The alkaline earth metals are named after their oxides , the alkaline earths , whose old - fashioned names were beryllia , magnesia , lime , strontia , and baryta . These oxides are basic ( alkaline ) when combined with water . `` Earth '' is an old term applied by early chemists to nonmetallic substances that are insoluble in water and resistant to heating -- properties shared by these oxides . The realization that these earths were not elements but compounds is attributed to the chemist Antoine Lavoisier . In his Traité Élémentaire de Chimie ( Elements of Chemistry ) of 1789 he called them salt - forming earth elements . Later , he suggested that the alkaline earths might be metal oxides , but admitted that this was mere conjecture . In 1808 , acting on Lavoisier 's idea , Humphry Davy became the first to obtain samples of the metals by electrolysis of their molten earths , thus supporting Lavoisier 's hypothesis and causing the group to be named the alkaline earth metals . </P>
<P> The alkaline earth metals are named after their oxides , the alkaline earths , whose old - fashioned names were beryllia , magnesia , lime , strontia , and baryta . These oxides are basic ( alkaline ) when combined with water . `` Earth '' is an old term applied by early chemists to nonmetallic substances that are insoluble in water and resistant to heating -- properties shared by these oxides . The realization that these earths were not elements but compounds is attributed to the chemist Antoine Lavoisier . In his Traité Élémentaire de Chimie ( Elements of Chemistry ) of 1789 he called them salt - forming earth elements . Later , he suggested that the alkaline earths might be metal oxides , but admitted that this was mere conjecture . In 1808 , acting on Lavoisier 's idea , Humphry Davy became the first to obtain samples of the metals by electrolysis of their molten earths , thus supporting Lavoisier 's hypothesis and causing the group to be named the alkaline earth metals . </P>
why group 2 elements called alkaline earth metals
why group 2 elements called alkaline earth metals
named after their oxides
named after their oxides