Reaction between water and metals

[Addieyo]

1. When reacting metals with water, under what conditions do you get hydroxide and under what conditions do you get oxide?

3. is it all reactive metals like Na and K form hydroxides and non-reactive ones form oxides?

Can anyone tell me the details of the reasons for such difference?

 

[Trave11er]

You are right - almost all the reactive metals form hydroxides, but some non-reactive do not form metal oxides at all. Also bear in mind that some metals only react at hign temperatures.
You can in general predict how metals react with water according to the potentials:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactivity_series - those before Zn (groups 1 and 2 metals and Al) react at room temperature and form hydroxides while metals from Zn to Cu react slowly and form oxides either with time or at heating. Metals after Cu hardly react with water directly.