Spectator ions reacting with water?

[SephirothXR]

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One AAMC question asked which element reacts most violently with water. The answer was Potassium b/c it was part of a strong base, KOH. Then in my TPR Chem book, it's saying that if you have a compound like NH4Cl, b/c the Cl is part of a strong acid (HCl), it doesn't react with water at all. I'm assuming that all conjugate bases/acids of strong acids/bases are spectator ions. Am I missing something here with spectator ions, or is it something that I feel might be different between bases and acids (K reacts with water to make KOH, but something like Cl will never react with water). Can someone elaborate?

 

[SephirothXR]

That was the question essentially, which element reacts most violently with water, and then the other choices were all sort of irrelevant (iron, and I think some transition metals, I think). I'm asking more conceptual questions about what happens with these spectator ions. Do spectator ions of bases react with water to form the hydroxide, but something like a Chlorine atom won't react with water at all?

 

[deleted329605]

Look at in terms of electron orbitals. Potassium is Group I. If it loses 1 e- it'll assume a noble gas configuration. That is one primary difference between K and it simply forming a strong basic compound with hydroxide. So yea, 1 valence electron, so its a ridiculously good reducing agent. If you look up reduction potential for K, you'll see that ridiculous amounts of free energy will be released when its oxidized.