Element 3 of Periodic table is Lithium with atomic number 3, atomic weight 6.941. Lithium, symbol Li, has a Body Centered Cubic structure and Silver color. Lithium is a alkali metal element. Trivial name of Lithium is alkali metals*. Know everything about Lithium Facts, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Electronic configuration, Atomic and Crystal Structure.
Lithium (from Greek:λίθος lithos, "stone") is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silver-white metal belonging to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element.
Read key information and facts about element Lithium
Explore our interactive periodic table
Periodic table is arranged by atomic number, number of protons in the nucleus which is same as number of electrons. The atomic number increases from left to right. Periodic table starts at top left ( Atomic number 1) and ends at bottom right (atomic number 118). Therefore you can directly look for atomic number 3 to find Lithium on periodic table.
Another way to read periodic table and locate an element is by using group number (column) and period number (row). To locate Lithium on periodic table look for cross section of group 1 and period 2 in the modern periodic table.
Explore Interactive Periodic Table to Understand and Learn Cool Trends
The element Lithium was discovered by Johan August Arfwedson in year 1817 in Sweden . Lithium derived its name the Greek word lithos, meaning 'stone'
The table below shows the abundance of Lithium in Universe, Sun, Meteorites, Earth's Crust, Oceans and Human Body.
The solid state structure of Lithium is Body Centered Cubic.
The Crystal structure can be described in terms of its unit Cell. The unit Cells repeats itself in three dimensional space to form the structure.
The unit cell is represented in terms of its lattice parameters, which are the lengths of the cell edges Lattice Constants (a, b and c)
and the angles between them Lattice Angles (alpha, beta and gamma).
The positions of the atoms inside the unit cell are described by the set of atomic positions ( xi, yi, zi) measured from a reference lattice point.
The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetric arrangements of particles in three-dimensional space are described by the 230 space groups (219 distinct types, or 230 if chiral copies are considered distinct.
Lithium atoms have 3 electrons and the electronic shell structure is [2, 1] with Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers) 2S1/2.
Shell Structure of Lithium - Electrons per energy level
The ground state electronic configuration of Neutral Lithium atom is [He] 2s1. The portion of Lithium configuration that is equivalent to the noble gas of the preceding period, is abbreviated as [He]. For atoms with many electrons, this notation can become lengthy and so an abbreviated notation is used.This is important as it is the Valence electrons 2s1, electrons in the outermost shell that determine the chemical properties of the element.
Complete ground state electronic configuration for the Lithium atom, Unabbreviated electronic configuration
1s2 2s1
Lithium atomic radius is 167 pm, while it's covalent radius is 134 pm.
167 pm (1.67 Å)
The electron affinity of Lithium is 59.6 kJ/mol
Refer to table below for Ionization energies of Lithium
Refer to below table for Lithium Physical Properties
Lithium is Conductor of electricity. Refer to table below for the Electrical properties of Lithium
Refer to table below for Thermal properties of Lithium
Isotopes of rhodium. Naturally occurring Lithium has 2 stable isotope - 6Li, 7Li.
List of unique identifiers to search the element in various chemical registry databases