Chemical Element Essay

Furthermore, countries such as Bolivia have nearly half the world’s known reserves of lithium. Given the subsidies being given to companies to develop electric cars and the decline in oil production and falling oil prices, demand for lithium can be expected to rise rapidly in the future which would greatly contribute to economic development in Bolivia.

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen; however, it is rare on earth, primarily found mixed with natural gas trapped in underground pockets. Once helium is released it is so light it escapes the earth's atmosphere and cannot be recovered. At sea level, helium occurs in the atmosphere in the proportion of 5.4 parts per million. The proportion increases slightly at higher altitudes. About 1 part per million of atmospheric helium consists of helium-3, now thought to be a product of the decay of tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope of mass 3. The common helium isotope, helium-4, probably comes from radioactive alpha emitters in rocks. Natural gas, which contains an average of 0.4 percent helium, is the major commercial source of helium. By far the largest users of helium are agencies of the United States government.

The activity was separated into 4 parts concerning 5 different groups of elements. In the first part, we had identified the physical state, the color, and the solubility in water of the Carbonates of I-A and II-A Elements. The elements Na2 Co3, Li2 CO3, Mg CO3, Ca CO3 had a powdery appearance while Ba CO3 had a ball shape appearance and K2 CO3 had a wet, granule appearance. All of the elements stated have a white color. The elements Na2 Co3, Li2 CO3, K2 CO3 were soluble to water while Mg CO3 Ca CO3 Ba CO3 were not. For the second part, we had identified the physical state and the color of some of the Group IV-A Elements. Carbon had a powdery appearance and it is black in color. Silicon had a ball-shaped appearance and it is countable and it is pinkish-white in color.

As a hazardous waste, lithium reacts with water or air to generate fires and/or produce explosions. The hazardous waste has a major impact on the quality of water since it reacts violently with water to form

Lithium-ion batteries are becoming more common in portable electronic devices due to their high-energy density, lack of memory effect, and high charge and discharge rate capabilities. Research and development work is ongoing to improve safety and increase capacity, charge/discharge rate, and lifetime. Demand for electric vehicle batteries is currently small, but it is expected to grow very quickly. China, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States are the major lithium-ion battery manufacturers for hybrid and electric vehicle applications.

This widespread mineral can be found in human bones, comets, and all over the Earth in sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic, and hydrothermal rocks. It is the most abundant source of phosphorus and is involved in numerous industrial and scientific advancements.

Lithium-ion batteries became available in the 1990s, offering higher energy densities. This technology won out nickel-hydride.

(1) Lanthanides are extremely interesting, and sometimes rather difficult to study. “Their buried electrons cause the lanthanides to clump together in frustrating ways.” (4) Despite their faults, life as it is today would not be the same without them. Although called a “rare-earth” element, in truth, lanthanum is the 28th most abundant, being as common as lead and tin together. (1) In fact, currently known reserves of lanthanum are known to be around 6 million tonnes. (1) (A tonne, also known as a metric ton, is a unit of mass equaling 1,000 kilograms. (5) According to Emesly, although there are no ores which contain only lanthanum as the metal component; it is found in minerals that include all the other rare-earth elements. Rare-earth ores actually contain a lot of lanthanum; monazite has around 25% lanthanum.  Interestingly, the metal itself is obtained by the reaction of lanthanum fluoride and calcium metal. Lanthanum metal is silvery-white, soft enough to cut with a knife, tarnishes rapidly in air, and burns easily if ignited. It is also one of the most reactive of the rare-earth metals; it even reacts with water, releasing hydrogen gas. Lanthanum has an extremely high melting point of 921 degrees Celsius and an even higher boiling point of 3,460 degrees Celsius. Additionally, it has a density of 6.1 kg per liter (6.1g per cubic centimeter)

It’s like sodium; it reacts to water to produce hydrogen. Lithium metals react slowly with water to form a colorless solution of lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. It turns into a basic because of the dissolved hydroxide. The reaction is slower than that of sodium. Not only does it react to water but also to oxygen if left unattended for a period of time. Lithium metal is quite easily cut with a knife. The result is a shiny silvery surface but it soon tarnishes because of reaction with oxygen and moisture from the air. When lithium is burned in air, it makes a white oxide lithium oxide, Li2O. Lithium metal dissolves in dilute sulphuric acid to form solutions. Compounds are made with water though such as, Lithium Chromate Dihydrate: Li2CrO4.2H2O, Lithium Sulfate Monohydrate: LiHSO4.H2O, Lithium Nitrate Trihydrate: LiNO3.3H2O and Lithium Dihydrogen Phosphate:

Lithium was discovered in 1817 by Johann August Arfvedson. This mineral is mined worldwide and the world’s largest lithium mine is in Greenbushes Western Australia. The cost of lithium has been slowly going up throughout the past years and is now in High demand, China and other Asian countries have been demanding this mineral because of new technology such as electric cars. Because of this high demand prices, Perth has started a $400 million Lithium plant. Therefore, this is proof that Western Australia’s economy is moving on from the mining boom. The process of the lithium is to take place in Kwinana and is to be built by China’s Tianqi

Pauli exlusion principle: no two electrons in an atom can have the same four quantum numbers; no two electrons in the same atomic orbital can have the same spin

Mercury, (its chemical symbol Hg), comes from the Greek word hydrargyrum, meaning, water silver, although T is commonly named as quick silver. Mercuries atom number is 80 and its mass number is 200.59. It is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature (around 20-25 degrees Celsius).

There are significant differences in chemical and physical properties between beryllium and magnesium and the group members from calcium onwards, which traditionally led to "alkaline earth metal" only applying to the latter group. This classification is mostly not in in English-language sources, but is still used in other countries such as Japan. As a result, comparisons with strontium and barium are more germane to calcium chemistry than comparisons with magnesium. Calcium metal burns hot if ignited, and it reacts violently with water to form the strongly-alkaline calcium hydroxide that can cause chemical

Lithium is the metal, which starts things out in the soluble bases of the periodic

Lithium in its pure form as stated is very reactive making it have to be extracted from other things because it does not occur on its own naturally in nature. The element is extracted from brine pools, in the United States, Nevada is the leading producer of the pure form of Lithium (Chemical Elements: From Carbon to Krypton. 2006.) Other than brine pools, the element occurs in salt water and is found in the earths crust at 65 ppm (newworldencyclopedia.com). The brine water is pumped into pool where it sits out in the sun until it evaporates. After the water has evaporated, salts form the brine remains. These salts, which consist of lithium, potassium, and sodium are then separated from each other to get the pure form of the elements that are needed.