Discovery of Lithium
Lithium was discovered by Johan Arfvedson in 1817 in Stockholm, Sweden, during an analysis of petalite (LiAlSi4O10).
He found the petalite contained “silica, alumina and an alkali.” (1)
The new alkali metal in the petalite had unique properties.
It required more acid to neutralize it than sodium and its carbonate was only sparingly soluble in water – unlike sodium carbonate.
The new alkali differed from potassium because it did not give a precipitate with tartaric acid.
Arfvedson tried to produce a pure sample of the new metal by electrolysis, but he was unsuccessful; the battery he used was not powerful enough. (2)
The pure metal was isolated the following year by both Swedish chemist William Brande and English chemist Humphry Davy working independently.
Davy obtained a small quantity of lithium metal by electrolysis of lithium carbonate. (3)
He noted the new element had a red flame color somewhat like strontium and produced an alkali solution when dissolved in water.
In days less safety-conscious than the present, Brande said of lithium, “its solution tastes acrid like the other fixed alkalies.” (4)
By 1855 Robert Bunsen and Augustus Matthiessen were independently producing the metal in large quantities by electrolysis of molten lithium chloride.
Lithium’s name is derived from the Greek word ‘lithos’ meaning, ‘stone.’
نظرات شما عزیزان:
تبادل
لینک هوشمند
