Editing Lithium (section)

== History ==
[[File:Arfwedson Johan A.jpg|thumb|Johan August Arfwedson is credited with the discovery of lithium in 1817]]
[[Petalite]] (LiAlSi<sub>4</sub>O<sub>10</sub>) was discovered in 1800 by the Brazilian chemist and statesman [[José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva]] in a mine on the island of [[Utö, Sweden|Utö]], Sweden.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/29658#page/256/mode/1up |page=239 |title=Des caractères et des propriétés de plusieurs nouveaux minérauxde Suède et de Norwège, avec quelques observations chimiques faites sur ces substances |last=D'Andraba |author-link=José Bonifácio de Andrada |journal=Journal de Physique, de Chimie, d'Histoire Naturelle, et des Arts |volume=51 |date=1800 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713145045/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/29658#page/256/mode/1up |archive-date=13 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="mindat">{{cite web |url=http://www.mindat.org/min-3171.html |title=Petalite Mineral Information |access-date=10 August 2009 |publisher=Mindat.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216020902/http://www.mindat.org/min-3171.html |archive-date=16 February 2009}}</ref><ref name="webelementshistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.webelements.com/lithium/history.html |title=Lithium:Historical information |access-date=10 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016023617/http://www.webelements.com/lithium/history.html |archive-date=16 October 2009}}</ref><ref name="discovery">{{Cite book |title=Discovery of the Elements |last=Weeks |first=Mary |date=2003 |page=124 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |location=Whitefish, Montana, United States |isbn=978-0-7661-3872-8 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=SJIk9BPdNWcC}} |access-date=10 August 2009}}{{dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> However, it was not until 1817 that [[Johan August Arfwedson]], then working in the laboratory of the chemist [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]], [[discovery of the chemical elements|detected]] the presence of a new element while analyzing petalite ore.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Berzelius |date=1817 |title=Ein neues mineralisches Alkali und ein neues Metall |trans-title=A new mineral alkali and a new metal |journal=Journal für Chemie und Physik |volume=21 |pages=44–48 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=kAsAAAAAMAAJ |page=PA44}} |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203044634/https://books.google.com/books?id=kAsAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA44 |archive-date=3 December 2016}} From p. 45: ''"Herr ''August Arfwedson'', ein junger sehr verdienstvoller Chemiker, der seit einem Jahre in meinem Laboratorie arbeitet, fand bei einer Analyse des Petalits von Uto's Eisengrube, einen alkalischen Bestandtheil, … Wir haben es ''Lithion'' genannt, um dadurch auf seine erste Entdeckung im Mineralreich anzuspielen, da die beiden anderen erst in der organischen Natur entdeckt wurden. Sein Radical wird dann Lithium genannt werden."'' (Mr. ''August Arfwedson'', a young, very meritorious chemist, who has worked in my laboratory for a year, found during an analysis of petalite from Uto's iron mine, an alkaline component … We've named it ''lithion'', in order to allude thereby to its first discovery in the mineral realm, since the two others were first discovered in organic nature. Its radical will then be named "lithium".)</ref><ref name="berzelius">{{cite web |url=http://www.chemeddl.org/collections/ptl/ptl/chemists/bios/arfwedson.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007084500/http://www.chemeddl.org/collections/ptl/ptl/chemists/bios/arfwedson.html |archive-date=7 October 2010 |title=Johan August Arfwedson |access-date=10 August 2009 |work=Periodic Table Live!}}</ref><ref name="uwis">{{cite web |url=http://genchem.chem.wisc.edu/lab/PTL/PTL/BIOS/arfwdson.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605152857/http://genchem.chem.wisc.edu/lab/PTL/PTL/BIOS/arfwdson.htm |archive-date=5 June 2008 |title=Johan Arfwedson |access-date=10 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="vanderkrogt">{{cite web |publisher=Elementymology & Elements Multidict |title=Lithium |first=Peter |last=van der Krogt |url=http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Li |access-date=5 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616005621/http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=li |archive-date=16 June 2011}}</ref> This element formed compounds similar to those of [[sodium]] and [[potassium]], though its [[lithium carbonate|carbonate]] and [[lithium hydroxide|hydroxide]] were less [[solubility|soluble in water]] and less [[Base (chemistry)|alkaline]].<ref name="compounds">{{cite web |url=http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/compounds.html |title=Compounds of the Group 1 Elements |access-date=10 August 2009 |last=Clark |first=Jim |date=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311150044/http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/compounds.html |archive-date=11 March 2009}}</ref> Berzelius gave the alkaline material the name "''lithion''/''lithina''", from the Greek word ''λιθoς'' (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 new element "lithium".<ref name="krebs" /><ref name="webelementshistory" /><ref name="vanderkrogt" />

Arfwedson later showed that this same element was present in the minerals [[spodumene]] and [[lepidolite]].<ref>See:
* Arfwedson, Aug. (1818) {{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=71QrAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA145 |title=Afhandlingar i fysik, kemi och mineralogi |year=1818 |access-date=27 July 2017 |archive-date=25 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125213610/https://books.google.com/books?id=71QrAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA145 |url-status=bot: unknown}}, ''Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi'', '''6''' : 145–172. (in Swedish)
* Arfwedson, Aug. (1818) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101076802493;view=1up;seq=105 "Untersuchung einiger bei der Eisen-Grube von Utö vorkommenden Fossilien und von einem darin gefundenen neuen feuerfesten Alkali"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313170552/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101076802493&view=1up&seq=105 |date=13 March 2021 }} (Investigation of some minerals occurring at the iron mines of Utö and of a new refractory alkali found therein), ''Journal für Chemie und Physik'', '''22''' (1) : 93–117. (in German)</ref><ref name="webelementshistory" /> In 1818, [[Christian Gmelin]] was the first to observe that lithium salts give a bright red color to flame.<ref name="webelementshistory" /><ref>{{cite journal |author=Gmelin, C. G. |year=1818 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=E2OTAAAAIAAJ |page=238}} |title=Von dem Lithon |trans-title=On lithium |journal=Annalen der Physik |volume=59 |issue=7 |pages=238–241 |doi=10.1002/andp.18180590702 |quote=p. 238 Es löste sich in diesem ein Salz auf, das an der Luft zerfloss, und nach Art der Strontiansalze den Alkohol mit einer purpurrothen Flamme brennen machte. (There dissolved in this [solvent; namely, absolute alcohol] a salt that deliquesced in air, and in the manner of strontium salts, caused the alcohol to burn with a purple-red flame.) |bibcode=1818AnP....59..229G |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109122750/https://books.google.com/books?id=E2OTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA238 |archive-date=9 November 2015}}</ref> However, both Arfwedson and Gmelin tried and failed to isolate the pure element from its salts.<ref name="webelementshistory" /><ref name="vanderkrogt" /><ref name="eote">{{Cite book |date=2004 |title=Encyclopedia of the Elements: Technical Data&nbsp;– History&nbsp;–Processing&nbsp;– Applications |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-3-527-30666-4 |pages=287–300 |author=Enghag, Per}}</ref> It was not isolated until 1821, when [[William Thomas Brande]] obtained it by [[electrolysis]] of [[lithium oxide]], a process that had previously been employed by the chemist Sir [[Humphry Davy]] to isolate the alkali metals potassium and sodium.<ref name="emsley">{{Cite book |last=Emsley |first=John |title=Nature's Building Blocks |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-850341-5}}</ref><ref name="eote" /><ref>Brande, William Thomas (1821) ''A Manual of Chemistry'', 2nd ed. London, England: John Murray, vol. 2, {{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERgAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA57 |title=A manual of chemistry |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119063555/https://books.google.com/books?id=ERgAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA57 |url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Brande |first1=William Thomas |year=1821}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |publisher=Royal Institution of Great Britain |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts |volume=5 |title=The Quarterly journal of science and the arts |date=1818 |page=338 |access-date=5 October 2010 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=D_4WAAAAYAAJ}} |archive-date=13 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313170619/https://books.google.com/books?id=D_4WAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/t/i/timeline/source.html |title=Timeline science and engineering |publisher=DiracDelta Science & Engineering Encyclopedia |access-date=18 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043252/http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/t/i/timeline/source.html |archive-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> Brande also described some pure salts of lithium, such as the chloride, and, estimating that lithia ([[lithium oxide]]) contained about 55% metal, estimated the atomic weight of lithium to be around 9.8&nbsp;g/mol (modern value ~6.94 g/mol).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/amanualchemistr01macngoog |first1=William Thomas |last1=Brande |first2=William James |last2=MacNeven |title=A manual of chemistry |date=1821 |page=[https://archive.org/details/amanualchemistr01macngoog/page/n207 191] |access-date=8 October 2010 |publisher=Long}}</ref> In 1855, larger quantities of lithium were produced through the electrolysis of [[lithium chloride]] by [[Robert Bunsen]] and [[Augustus Matthiessen]].<ref name="webelementshistory" /><ref>{{cite journal |author=Bunsen, R. |year=1855 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002457943;view=1up;seq=517 |title=Darstellung des Lithiums |trans-title=Preparation of lithium |journal=Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie |volume=94 |pages=107–111 |doi=10.1002/jlac.18550940112 |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106181113/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002457943;view=1up;seq=517 |archive-date=6 November 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The discovery of this procedure led to commercial production of lithium in 1923 by the German company [[Metallgesellschaft AG]], which performed an electrolysis of a liquid mixture of lithium chloride and [[potassium chloride]].<ref name="webelementshistory" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.echeat.com/free-essay/Analysis-of-the-Element-Lithium-29195.aspx |title=Analysis of the Element Lithium |first=Thomas |last=Green |date=11 June 2006 |publisher=echeat |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421105704/http://www.echeat.com/free-essay/Analysis-of-the-Element-Lithium-29195.aspx |archive-date=21 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Ua2SVcUBHZgC |page=99}} |page=99 |title=Handbook of Lithium and Natural Calcium Chloride |isbn=978-0-08-047290-4 |last1=Garrett |first1=Donald E. |date=5 April 2004 |publisher=Elsevier |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203010924/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2SVcUBHZgC&pg=PA99 |archive-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

Australian psychiatrist [[John Cade]] is credited with reintroducing and popularizing the use of lithium to treat [[mania]] in 1949.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shorter |first=Edward |date=June 2009 |title=The history of lithium therapy |journal=Bipolar Disorders |volume=11 |issue=Suppl 2 |pages=4–9 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-5618.2009.00706.x |issn=1398-5647 |pmc=3712976 |pmid=19538681}}</ref> Shortly after, throughout the mid 20th century, lithium's mood stabilizing applicability for mania and [[Depression (mood)|depression]] took off in Europe and the United States.

The production and use of lithium underwent several drastic changes in history. The first major application of lithium was in high-temperature [[lithium grease]]s for aircraft engines and similar applications in [[World War II]] and shortly after. This use was supported by the fact that lithium-based soaps have a higher melting point than other alkali soaps, and are less corrosive than calcium based soaps. The small demand for lithium soaps and lubricating greases was supported by several small mining operations, mostly in the US.

The demand for lithium increased dramatically during the [[Cold War]] with the production of [[Nuclear weapon design|nuclear fusion weapons]]. Both lithium-6 and lithium-7 produce [[tritium]] when irradiated by neutrons, and are thus useful for the production of tritium by itself, as well as a form of solid fusion fuel used inside hydrogen bombs in the form of [[lithium deuteride]]. The US became the prime producer of lithium between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s. At the end, the stockpile of lithium was roughly 42,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide. The stockpiled lithium was depleted in lithium-6 by 75%, which was enough to affect the measured [[atomic weight]] of lithium in many standardized chemicals, and even the atomic weight of lithium in some "natural sources" of lithium ion which had been "contaminated" by lithium salts discharged from isotope separation facilities, which had found its way into ground water.<ref name="Coplen2002" /><ref name="USGSCR1994">{{cite web |url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/450494.pdf |title=Commodity Report 1994: Lithium |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=3 November 2010 |date=1994 |first=Joyce A. |last=Ober |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609113707/http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/450494.pdf |archive-date=9 June 2010}}</ref> <!--With only 7.5% of lithium-6 this makes ca. 2,200 tonnes of lithium-6.-->

{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction =
| width =
| footer = Satellite images of the [[Salar del Hombre Muerto]], [[Argentina]] (left), and [[Salar de Uyuni|Uyuni]], [[Bolivia]] (right), [[Salt pan (geology)|salt flats]] that are rich in lithium. The lithium-rich brine is concentrated by pumping it into [[Salt evaporation pond|solar evaporation ponds]] (visible in the left image).
| image1 = Lithium mine, Salar del Hombre Muerto, Argentina.jpg
| width1 = 225
| alt1 = alt1
| caption1 =
| image2 = Uyuni landsat.JPG
| width2 = 150
| alt2 = alt2
| caption2 =
}}
Lithium is used to decrease the melting temperature of glass and to improve the melting behavior of [[aluminium oxide]] in the [[Hall-Héroult process]].<ref name="DeberitzBoche2003">{{cite journal |last1=Deberitz |first1=Jürgen |last2=Boche |first2=Gernot |title=Lithium und seine Verbindungen – Industrielle, medizinische und wissenschaftliche Bedeutung |journal=Chemie in unserer Zeit |volume=37 |issue=4 |year=2003 |pages=258–266 |doi=10.1002/ciuz.200300264}}</ref><ref name="Bauer1985">{{cite journal |last1=Bauer |first1=Richard |title=Lithium – wie es nicht im Lehrbuch steht |journal=Chemie in unserer Zeit |volume=19 |issue=5 |year=1985 |pages=167–173 |doi=10.1002/ciuz.19850190505}}</ref> These two uses dominated the market until the middle of the 1990s. After the end of the [[nuclear arms race]], the demand for lithium decreased and the sale of department of energy stockpiles on the open market further reduced prices.<ref name="USGSCR1994" /> In the mid-1990s, several companies started to isolate lithium from [[brine]] which proved to be a less expensive option than underground or open-pit mining. Most of the mines closed or shifted their focus to other materials because only the ore from zoned pegmatites could be mined for a competitive price. For example, the US mines near [[Kings Mountain, North Carolina|Kings Mountain]], North Carolina, closed before the beginning of the 21st century.

The development of lithium-ion batteries increased the demand for lithium and became the dominant use in 2007.<ref name="USGSYB1994">{{cite web |url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/myb1-2007-lithi.pdf |title=Minerals Yearbook 2007: Lithium |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=3 November 2010 |date=1994 |first=Joyce A. |last=Ober |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717174958/http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/myb1-2007-lithi.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2010}}</ref> With the surge of lithium demand in batteries in the 2000s, new companies have expanded brine isolation efforts to meet the rising demand.<ref name="IMR">{{Cite book |first=Jessica Elzea |last=Kogel |title=Industrial minerals & rocks: commodities, markets, and uses |isbn=978-0-87335-233-8 |page=599 |chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=zNicdkuulE4C |page=600}} |chapter=Lithium |date=2006 |publisher=Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration |location=Littleton, Colo. |access-date=6 November 2020 |archive-date=7 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107221728/https://books.google.com/books?id=zNicdkuulE4C&pg=PA600 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=8erDL_DnsgAC |page=339}} |title=Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design: Volume 28&nbsp;– Lactic Acid to Magnesium Supply-Demand Relationships |publisher=M. Dekker |author=McKetta, John J. |date=18 July 2007 |isbn=978-0-8247-2478-8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528093232/http://books.google.com/books?id=8erDL_DnsgAC&pg=PA339 |archive-date=28 May 2013}}</ref>