The aluminum silicate is the main mineral that occurs in the form of spodumene, LiAl(SiO 3) 3 about 2.5 to 3 percent and lepidolite, LiF, LiOH, Al 2(SiO 3) 3 about 3.8 to 5.6 percent in United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Soviet Union, Spain, and Congo. It occurs in crustal rocks (18 ppm) comparable to gallium (18 ppm) and niobium (20 ppm) in the earth’s environment.
Lithium was discovered by Swedish chemist Johan August Arfvedson in 1817 in the mineral petalite, the name was chosen from Greek later lithos = stone. This fact of alkali metals developed the analytical method for precise estimation by flame photometer. Properties of LithiumĪll the alkali metals give characteristic flame colour due to easy excitation by electromagnetic spectrum (lithium – crimson, sodium – yellow, potassium – violet, rubidium – red-violet, cesium – blue). The large difference between the first and second ionization energy of lithium suggests that the preferred oxidation number or state of metal will be +1 and preferred to form ionic chemical bonding or compounds in chemistry. The electron configuration of the lithium atom, 1s 2 2s 1, the only 2s 1 electron of the metal takes part in metallic bonding.