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Everyday science

Everyday science

Battle of the elements: lithium is the little element making a big difference

28 May 2019 Margaret Harris

Which is your favourite chemical element? To mark the International Year of the Periodic Table, our science journalists will be arguing for their pick from the 118 known elements. In this instalment, Margaret Harris observes that lithium – a playground for atomic physicists – also offers a route to greener energy, as well as a life-changing treatment for people with bipolar disorder.

Lithium
(Adapted from shutterstock/agsandrew)

My first encounter with lithium was in chemistry class, watching a lump of dull-grey metal gently fizz and disappear in a beaker of water. My second encounter was in the atomic physics laboratory, building a machine that made light, zippy atoms of lithium vapour slow down enough so that they could be cooled and trapped with lasers. Lithium, as I quickly learned, is an atomic physicist’s dream, amenable to the tricks of the atom-trapper’s trade and usefully abundant in both fermionic (lithium-6) and bosonic (lithium-7) isotopes. I have spent many happy hours contemplating its properties, and many more contemplating those of its alkali cousins, rubidium and caesium, which I studied during my PhD.

Even so, when I told a friend of mine that I planned to write about lithium in Physics World’s IYPT contest, she immediately replied, “That’s my element.”  Like millions of people worldwide, my friend has bipolar disorder. Without treatment, she is prone to cycling between manic highs and depressive lows. But for reasons that are still mysterious despite decades of research, a daily dose of lithium has an almost magical effect on many individuals with bipolar, stabilizing their moods and making it possible for them to live healthy, happy lives. In my friend’s case, lithium means that she spends time in mental institutions as a clinician, not a patient, and that she is “crazy” only in the fun, positive sense of the word. It is no exaggeration to say that she owes her health, and possibly even her life, to this unassuming little element.

The power of lithium also manifests itself in other ways. Even if you’ve never been prescribed it by a doctor, chances are that you, too, rely on lithium in your daily life. Some of the same properties that make lithium fizz in a beaker of water and zoom about in a vacuum chamber also make it well-suited for storing energy. Smartphones, portable electronic devices and most electric vehicles run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which use the ions as fast, mobile charge carriers and at least one lithium compound in their electrodes. Solid lithium-metal batteries are also replacing batteries containing lead, cadmium or mercury in many applications, reducing hazardous waste. In short, this light, reactive, relatively non-toxic element is behind two of the most important trends in modern history: the increase in portable computing power and the shift away from energy sources that poison our land, air and water while playing merry hell with our climate.

Lithium isn’t perfect. Poorly-designed or poorly-maintained lithium-ion batteries are prone to exploding (and are banned in airline hold luggage for that reason). As a drug, lithium carries an increased risk of birth defects and kidney damage. But in a flawed world where neither patients nor the environment can afford to wait for something better, lithium is an absolute godsend. As a playground for atomic physicists, a progenitor of better mental health, and a bridge to a cleaner, greener planet, therefore, lithium gets my vote.

Which is your favourite element? Contact us at pwld@ioppublishing.org with your pick – and the reason why – or via Twitter using the hashtag #battleofelements.

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