Chemistry on Lithium

This is a far too comprehensive a question to ask on this site. There are a multitude of sites on the internet that will answer your questions. There is absolutely no reason to expect anyone here to regurgitate it all for your benefit. I think your question really may be some sort of a joke. Sorry, but I have to tell you: it's falling on stony ground.

Just get some lithium plates, a bucket of ocean, a voltmeter, a face shield and gloves; and go for it.

Love it!

And if it's cesium-137, you can wear a lead shield, too. Sodium would have been interesting to see, also, perhaps from a distance.

(For those not familiar, Cs-137 is commonly used for pressure vessel radiography to test welds.)

Sodium....very exciting

A friend found a very rusty tin in the back of a shop she had just taken over. She phones me and asks what it was for, the label stated "½oz sodium in vacuum".

I took it to work to dispose of it (and have a bit of fun). I taped the tin to a brick, punched a small hole in it in threw it in a slurry drainage sump. It emptied all the slurry, just a pity I didn't run fast enough. Some of the plant operators were watching from an elevated walk way, they didn't escape the flying **** either.

Engineers, man. I tell you. *smdh*

Interesting that the reaction gets more violent with increasing atomic mass. But on the other side of the periodic table the halogens get less reactive as you go fluorine, chlorine etc. Any idea if there's a theory about why?

OK thanks, never thought of it that way!

Cesium the most reactive metal, combined with fluorine, the most reactive non-metal....Let the mayhem begin! Ok very small amount, let's not get too crazy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOFaWdPxB0

A bit disappointing! I had more interesting & spectacular reactions in my shed as a teenager. (Chemical ones, you understand).

This is a case where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Play with two double A batteries, it's safer.

If you're asking about the properties, I would say that you are not ready to make your own batteries. It's a lot more complicated than putting two dissimilar metals into an electrolyte.

Lithium is the tamest of the alkali metals in the left column of the periodic table, but is still a very reactive metal. Lithium batteries store a lot of energy and, if damaged or not designed properly, are prone to catching fire. It's not something the hobbyist can just throw together.

Thank you for your answers. I did not know the answer and you guys gave me several good ones. My little brother lives on a sail boat and has been fighting the battery charging monsters since he moved on the boat in the late 90's. I have often wondered if there is a better way. I wondered if Lithium was a good idea but I think not for me to do anything with.

Can't beat solar panels...need a good charge controller in any case...

https://www.emarineinc.com/Wind-Generator-vs-Solar-Panels-Which-is-Better-For-Your-Boat

Try this site for all you need to know.

http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Thanks for the link.Very informative and useful.

Lithium is reactive to water in either liquid or gas form. I once visited a lithium battery factory in Miami. In order to manufacture the batteries, the ambient clean-room gas was maintained at a constant 120 ppm H2O. This is exceptionally dry for Florida. The equipment used to maintain this dryness level was both massive and expensive. When asked why they needed such equipment, they explained that that it was determined that the operation was too delicate to be performed in a conventional dry-box with gloves. They gave me a chunk of lithium metal as a souvenir, an after a few years, it turned from a lustrous metal into a gray pile of powder.

The chemistry of Lithium is in the public domain and widely published. The Wikipedia articles on the topic would be an easy starting point.

Quick rule of thumb:

"Lithium metals" (First column of the periodic table) + water = BOOM.

Once you've studied enough chemistry to know why that equation is "True, but not really True," then you'll know enough to continue with your lithium/salt water battery, if you still wish to at that point.