2013 Annual Report on Lithium Market
2014-03-27 08:53:18 【Print】
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1. Lithium Overview
1.1 Definition and characteristics of lithium
Lithium metal is soft enough to be cut with a knife. When cut, it possesses a silvery-white color that quickly changes to gray due to oxidation. While it has one of the lowest melting points among all metals (180 °C), it has the highest melting and boiling points of the alkali metals.
Lithium reacts with water easily, but with noticeably less energy than other alkali metals do. The reaction forms hydrogen gas and lithium in aqueous solution. Because of its reactivity with water, lithium is usually stored under cover of a hydrocarbon, often petroleum jelly. Though the heavier alkali metals can be stored in more dense substances, such as mineral oil, lithium is not dense enough to be fully submerged in these liquids. In moist air, lithium rapidly tarnishes to form a black coating of lithium hydroxide (LiOH and LiOH?H2O), lithium nitride (Li3N) and lithium carbonate (Li2CO3, the result of a secondary reaction between LiOH and CO2).
1.1 Definition and characteristics of lithium
Lithium metal is soft enough to be cut with a knife. When cut, it possesses a silvery-white color that quickly changes to gray due to oxidation. While it has one of the lowest melting points among all metals (180 °C), it has the highest melting and boiling points of the alkali metals.
Lithium reacts with water easily, but with noticeably less energy than other alkali metals do. The reaction forms hydrogen gas and lithium in aqueous solution. Because of its reactivity with water, lithium is usually stored under cover of a hydrocarbon, often petroleum jelly. Though the heavier alkali metals can be stored in more dense substances, such as mineral oil, lithium is not dense enough to be fully submerged in these liquids. In moist air, lithium rapidly tarnishes to form a black coating of lithium hydroxide (LiOH and LiOH?H2O), lithium nitride (Li3N) and lithium carbonate (Li2CO3, the result of a secondary reaction between LiOH and CO2).
