All About Elements: Lithium 1 Boreal’s All About Elements Series Building Real-World Connections to Fun Facts the Building Blocks of Chemistry About… 3 PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS Lithium GROUP 1/IA 18/VIIIA 1 2 H KEY He 1. Elemental Lithium can float in mineral oil! Atomic Number 1.01 2/IIA 35 13/IIIA 14/IVA 15/VA 16/VIA 17/VIIA 4.00 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Li Be Symbol Br B C N O F Ne 6.94 9.01 10.81 12.01 14.01 16.00 19.00 20.18 79.90 Atomic Weight 2. Lithium was one of the elements produced 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The other 8 9 10 22.99 24.31 3/IIIB 4/IVB 5/VB 6/VIB 7/VIIB VIIIBVIII 11/IB 12/IIB 26.98 28.09 30.97 32.07 35.45 39.95 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 two were helium and hydrogen. K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr 39.10 40.08 44.96 47.87 50.94 52.00 54.94 55.85 58.93 58.69 63.55 65.41 69.72 72.64 74.92 78.9678.96 79.90 83.80 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 LI Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe 3. Like many other elements, Lithium was 85.47 87.62 88.91 91.22 92.91 95.94 (97.91)(98) 101.07 102.91 106.42 107.87 112.41 114.82 118.71 121.76 127.60 126.90 131.29 55 56 57–71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 discovered by accident! Cs Ba La-Lu Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn ´ 132.91 137.33 178.49 180.95 183.84 186.21 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 204.38 207.20207.2 208.98 (208.98)(209) (209.99)(210) (222.02)(222) 87 88 89–103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 Fr Ra AcAc-Lr - Lr Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Uub Uut Uuq Uup Uuh Uus Uuo ´´ 4. Today, lithium carbonate is extracted from (223.02)(223) (226.03)(226) (261.11)(261) (262.11)(262) (266.12)(266) (264.12)(264) (277.00)(277) (268.14)(268) (247.07)(269) (280.00)(272) (285.00)(285) (284.00)(284) (289.00)(289) (288.00)(288) (293.00)(289) (294.00) (294.00)(294) 6.94 ´ 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 brine fields, mainly in South America. The La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu 138.91 140.12 140.91 144.24 (145) 150.36 151.97 157.25 158.93 162.50 164.93 167.26 168.93 173.04 174.97 lithium carbonate is converted to lithium (144.91) 151.96 173.04 US: www.wardsci.com Canada: www.wardsci.ca ´´ 800-962-2660 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 © 2010 Rev. 7/15 Ward’s Science. All Rights Reserved. chloride using hydrochloric acid. This lithium chloride is then fused with potassium chloride No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr or by any means without express prior written permission from Ward’s Science. (227.03)(227) 232.04232.04 231.04 238.03 (237.05)(237) (244.06)(244) (243.06)(243) (247.07)(247) (247.07)(247) (251.08)(251) (252.08)(252) (257.10)(257) (258.10)(258) (259.10)(259) (262.11)(262) US: www.scholarchemistry.com Canada: www.scholarchemistry.ca NOTES: Black — solid Red — gas Blue — liquid — synthetically prepared 866-260-0501 © Copyright 2010 ScholAR Chemistry. All Rights Reserved. Values provided are based on the 85th edition of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Some values have been rounded. and used in the electrolysis operation that produces elemental lithium. BASICNo portion PERIODIC of this work TABLE may be reproduced- SIDE 1 (Rev.in any form7/15) or by any means without express prior written permission from ScholAR Chemistry. Catalog #9630200 5. Lithium is commonly found today in batteries in our cell phones and laptops. A chemical element is the simplest form of matter that scientists can work with directly. All of the more complex substances are composed of elements in vari- ous combinations. But have you ever inquired about the properties of each of those individual chemical building blocks? Our universe is composed of trillions of substances that are all differing compositions of a finite number of elements. In this email series, we will delve deeper into each of the elements in order to gain more insight into their properties and uses and the substances they are All About used to create. Lithium: In our All About Elements series, we’ve brought together the most fascinating Lithium is the third element on the Periodic Table of facts and figures about your favorite elements so students can explore their Elements, found in group 1 (1A). Lithium contains properties and uses in the real world and you can create chemistry connections just a single valence electron, with a configuration of 1s22s1, making it the first alkali metal found on in your classroom and beyond. the table, as well as one of the most reactive metals. It is the least dense of all of the solid elements with a density of 0.534 g/cm3 making it one of three Look for a new featured element each month, plus elements that would actually float on water, the limited-time savings on select hands-on materials other two being sodium and potassium. In its pure elemental form it is a shiny metal that is so soft it to incorporate these element in your lessons. can be cut with a knife. However, that shiny surface quickly disappears when the element is exposed to oxygen in the air, forming a dull grey layer of lithium Sign up to receive Boreal’s Science emails at boreal.com and oxide and hydroxide. get a new element in your inbox each month. Lithium floating in mineral oil Check back often at boreal.com/elements for the latest content and exclusive savings on new teaching tools each month. boreal.com | 800-387-9393 2 3 Properties of Lithium Where in the World is Lithium? While it is possible for pure elemental lithium to be commercially extracted by electrolysis of the compound Lithium has the chemical symbol Li and the atomic number of 3. Like all alkali metals, it is a highly reactive lithium chloride (LiCl), the lithium chloride must be harvested from somewhere! Lithium chloride is actually metal, which is also quite flammable and therefore is typically found stored under an inert liquid such as a produced from lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), which is produced from rocks containing lithium. The Earth’s crust- hydrocarbon, rather than water. In fact, like all other alkali metals, lithium reacts with water to form hydrogen al contents of lithium range from 20 to 70 ppm by weight, which makes it the 25th most abundant element, gas and lithium hydroxide in aqueous solution. Due to its high reactivity, lithium is not found freely in nature and lithium forms a minor part of many igneous rocks, with its largest concentrations in granites. Granite as other elements are (it only makes up 0.0007% of the Earth’s crust), and instead only appears bonded with pegmatites also contain the highest concentration of lithium containing minerals, such as spodumene and other elements, typically in ionic compounds (such as LIf, LiCl, LiBr, LiI) due to its propensity to lose an electron petalite. Lithium salts can there for be extracted from water in mineral springs, brine pools and brine deposits to form Li . Because of its easy ability to form a cation, lithium is also a good conductor of heat and electricity. across the globe. Lithium is a very soluble ion, and therefore is present in ocean waters and is harvested from natural brines and clays, which we will discuss further later. It is estimated that there are 230 billion tons of lithium in seawa- In 2010, the country of Chili in South America was estimates to have the largest reserve of lithium salts with ter, where it exists at a relatively constant concentration of 0.14 to 0.25 parts per million, although the water’s approximately 87.5 million tons and the highest annual production at 8,800 tons/year. Another large reserve near-hydrothermal vents have concentrations approaching 7 ppm. is in Salar de Uyuni area of Bolivia, which has approximately 5.4 million tones. In the United States, lithium salts are recovered from brine pools in California, Nevada and a newly discovered deposit in Wyoming’s Rock In nature, lithium is composed of two stable isotopes, 6Li and 7Li, where lithium-7 is the more abundant iso- Springs Uplift.