Why is magnesium more reactive than copper?

[medemic]

So I missed this question in TPRH SW. So I know in general, alkaline earth metals are reactive but my train of thought to why I thought Mg was more reactive than Cu was this. Mg has its s orbital filled. Copper has its d orbital filled. But copper's 4s orbital only has one electron in it, so why wouldn't copper easily lose that electron? Especially because its 4s, meaning it would have shielding. Thoughts? I tried googling, but I still couldn't understand.

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[sakabato93]

Did you calculate effective nuclear charge on Mg and Cu? That may help answer your question.

 

[thun]

magnesiums two valence electrons are better shielded than coppers 4s orbital. copper has a more complex configuration but the shielding effect is weaker.