Lithium - Only Science

Lithium

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. The name Lithium came from Greek: λίθος, romanized: lithos, lit. 'stone'. It is a soft and silvery-white alkali metal. It is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element under standard conditions. Lithium is highly reactive and flammable.

Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications as heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel, and aluminum production, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. These uses take up more than three-quarters of lithium production.

In 1817, Johan August Arfwedson, then working in the laboratory of the chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, detected the presence of a new element while analyzing petalite ore. This element formed compounds similar to those of sodium and potassium, although its carbonate and hydroxide were less soluble in water and less alkaline. Berzelius gave the alkaline material the name "lithion/lithina", from the Greek word "λιθoς"  which transliterated as lithos, meaning "stone", to reflect its discovery in a solid mineral, as opposed to potassium, which had been discovered in plant ashes, and sodium, which was known partly for its high abundance in animal blood. He named the metal inside the material "lithium".

Physical properties
Appearance	Silvery White
Atomic weight	6.94
Atomic number	3
Group	Group 1-> Hydrogen and Alkali metals
Period	Period 2
Block	s-block*
Electron configuration*	1s2 2s1
Electrons per shell	2, 1
Phase at STP(Standard Temperature and Pressure)	Solid
Melting point	453.65 K ​or 180.50 °C or ​356.90 °F.
Boiling point	1603 K ​or 1330 °C or ​2426 °F.
Density at room temperature when liquid	0.534 g/cm3 0.512 g/cm3
Triple point*	2.177 K, ​5.043 kPa
Critical point*	3220 K, 67 MPa
The heat of fusion (H2)	3.00 kJ.mol-1
Heat of vaporization	136 kJ.mol-1
Molar heat capacity	24.860 J(mol·K)-1
Vapor pressure	1 Pa: 797 10 Pa: 885 100 Pa: 995 1000 Pa: 1144 10000 Pa: 1337 100000 Pa: 1610

Atomic properties
Oxidation states*	+1 (a strongly basic oxide)
Electronegativity*	Pauling scale-> 0.98
Ionization energies*	1st--> 520.2 kJ/mol 2nd--> 7298.1 kJ/mol 3rd--> 11815.0 kJ/mol
Atomic radius	152 pm
Covalent radius*	128 ± 7 pm
Van der Waals radius*	182 pm

 

1.  A block of the periodic table is a set of elements unified by the orbitals their valence electrons or vacancies lie in.
2.  The electronic configuration is the arrangement of electrons in energy levels around an atomic nucleus.
3.  The triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the three phases of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium.
4.  A critical point is the endpoint of a phase equilibrium curve.
5.  The oxidation state sometimes referred to as oxidation number, describes the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound.
6.  Electronegativity is the tendency of an atom to attract shared electrons to itself.
7.  In physics and chemistry, ionization energy is the minimum amount of energy required to remove the most loosely bound electron of an isolated neutral gaseous atom or molecule.
8. The Atomic Radius of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atoms, usually the mean or typical distance from the center of the nucleus to the boundary of the surrounding shells of electrons.
9.  The covalent radius is a measure of the size of an atom that forms part of one covalent bond.
10.  The Van der Waals radius of an atom is the radius of an imaginary hard-sphere representing the distance of closest approach for another atom.

Source: Wikipedia, Brittanica