Why are lithium and sodium similar

Lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium are all part of a group called the alkali metals. ... They are all soft metals in elemental form and they all react violently with water. They react so strongly because they all readily lose an electron to form the +1 cation very easily.

nacl or sodium chloride is an ionic compound. this is because an ionic compound pertains to a compound that consists of positively and negatively charged ions. in this case, na (sodium) has a tendency to lose one electron when it reacts with with other atoms, so the resulting sodium ion contains 11 protons and 10 electrons, thus making it positively charged (na+), when chlorine reacts, it usually gains one electron to form an ion called chloride, thus making it negatively charged ( since the ions are oppositely charged, they attract.