3. Lithium

Name: Lithium
Symbol: Li
Atomic Number: 3
Atomic Mass: 6.941 amu
Melting Point: 180.54 °C (453.69 °K, 356.972 °F)
Boiling Point: 1347.0 °C (1620.15 °K, 2456.6 °F)
Number of Protons/Electrons: 3
Number of Neutrons: 4
Classification: Alkali Metal
Crystal Structure: Cubic
Density(293 K): 0.53 g/cm3
Color: silvery

Lithium is a Group 1 element containing just a single valence electron (1s22s1). Group 1 elements are called "alkali metals". Lithium is a solid only about half as dense as water. A freshly cut chunk of lithium is silvery, but tarnishes in a minute or so in air to give a grey surface.

Lithium is mixed (alloyed) with aluminium and magnesium for light-weight alloys, and is also used in batteries, some greases, some glasses, and in medicine.

Lithium (Greek lithos, meaning "stone") was discovered by Johann Arfvedson in 1817. Arfvedson found the new element within the minerals spodumene and lepidolite in a petalite ore, LiAl(Si2O5)2, he was analyzing from the island Uto in Sweden. In 1818 Christian Gmelin was the first to observe that lithium salts give a bright red color in flame. Both men tried and failed to isolate the element from its salts, however.

The element was not isolated until William Thomas Brande and Sir Humphrey Davy later used electrolysis on lithium oxide. Commercial production of lithium metal was achieved in 1923 by the German company Metallgesellschaft AG through using electrolysis of molten lithium chloride and potassium chloride.

It was apparently given the name "lithium" because it was discovered from a mineral while other common alkali metals were first discovered from plant tissue.

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Non-metals H, C, N, O, P, S, Se
Halogens F, Cl, Br, I, At
Alkali metals Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr
Alkaline Earth Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra
Transition metals Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, Hg, Rf, Db, Sg, Bh, Hs, Mt, Ds, Rg, Uub
Metalloids B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te, Po
Other metals Al, Ga, In, Sn, Tl, Pb, Bi
Rare Earth Lu, Lr, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Ac, Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Bk, Cf, Es, Fm, Md, No
Noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn

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