 Discovery Information |
| Who:
Johann Arfvedson
|
| When: 1817 |
| Where: Sweden |
|
| Name Origin |
| Greek: lithos (stone). |
|
| Sources |
| Lithium is widely distributed but does not occur in nature in its free form. Because of its reactivity, it is always found bound with one or more other elements or compounds. Found in trace amounts in the minerals; spodumene, ambylgonite, lepidolite. Most commercial lithium is recovered from brines sources in Chile. Also obtained by passing electric charge through melted lithium chloride. |
|
| Uses |
| Used in batteries, ceramics, glass, lubricants, alloy hardeners, pharmaceuticals, hydrogenating agents, heat transfer liquids, rocket propellants, vitamin A synthesis, nuclear reactor coolant, underwater buoyancy devices and the production of tritium. Deoxidizer in copper and copper alloys. |
|
| Notes |
| Lithium is one of only three elements - and the only metal - created in the first moments of the Big Bang. (The other two elements are hydrogen and helium, which according to cosmologists, were created in much greater abundance than lithium.) |
| It is the only metal that reacts with nitrogen at room temperature. Near its melting point, lithium ignites in air. Lithium posses a dangerous fire and explosion risk when exposed to water, acids or oxidizing agents. It reacts exothermally with nitrogen in moist air at high temperatures. In solution lithium is toxic and targets the central nervous system. |
