![]() Lithium is soft and silvery white and it is the least dense of the metals. Women taking lithium carbonate for bi-polar disorder may be advised to vary their treatment during pregnancy as lithium may cause birth defects. Lithium is corrosive, causing skin burns as a result of the caustic hydroxide produced in contact with moisture. For a given battery weight, lithium batteries deliver more energy than batteries based on other metals in other words, lithium batteries have high energy density.Ī lithium battery powers an electronic device. Lithium based batteries have revolutionized consumer devices such as computers and cell phones.Today lithium carbonate – or more precisely the lithium ions in lithium carbonate – are used to inhibit the manic phase of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder. ![]() Humphrey Davy produced some of the world’s first lithium metal from lithium carbonate.Lithium is the only alkali metal that reacts with nitrogen.Synthesis of these elements took place within the first three minutes of the universe’s existence. Lithium is believed to be one of only three elements – the others are hydrogen and helium – produced in significant quantities by the Big Bang.Lithium’s name is derived from the Greek word ‘lithos’ meaning, ‘stone.’ In days less safety-conscious than the present, Brande said of lithium, “its solution tastes acrid like the other fixed alkalies.” (4)īy 1855 Robert Bunsen and Augustus Matthiessen were independently producing the metal in large quantities by electrolysis of molten lithium chloride. He noted the new element had a red flame color somewhat like strontium and produced an alkali solution when dissolved in water. The pure metal was isolated the following year by both Swedish chemist William Brande and English chemist Humphry Davy working independently.ĭavy obtained a small quantity of lithium metal by electrolysis of lithium carbonate. The new alkali differed from potassium because it did not give a precipitate with tartaric acid.Īrfvedson tried to produce a pure sample of the new metal by electrolysis, but he was unsuccessful the battery he used was not powerful enough. It required more acid to neutralize it than sodium and its carbonate was only sparingly soluble in water – unlike sodium carbonate. The new alkali metal in the petalite had unique properties. He found the petalite contained “silica, alumina and an alkali.” (1) ![]() Lithium was discovered by Johan Arfvedson in 1817 in Stockholm, Sweden, during an analysis of petalite (LiAlSi 4O 10). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |