Lithium is a chemical element with symbol Li and atomic number 3. Classified as an alkali metal, lithium is a solid at room temperature.
Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel and aluminium production, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. These uses consume more than three quarters of lithium production.
Lithium is present in biological systems in trace amounts; its functions are uncertain. Lithium salts have proven to be useful as a mood-stabilizing drug in the treatment of bipolar disorder in humans.
It does not occur freely in nature; combined, it is found in small units in nearly all igneous rocks and in many mineral springs. Lepidolite, spodumene, petalite, and amblygonite are the more important minerals containing it.
Lithium is presently being recovered from brines of Searles Lake, in California, and from those in Nevada. Large deposits of quadramene are found in North Carolina. The metal is produced electrolytically from the fused chloride. Lithium is silvery in appearance, much like Na, K, and other members of the alkali metal series. It reacts with water, but not as vigorously as sodium. Lithium imparts a beautiful crimson color to a flame, but when the metal burns strongly, the flame is a dazzling white.
Sulfur (in non-scientific British use also sulphur) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16.
It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula S8.
Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow, crystalline solid at room temperature.
Sulfur burns with a blue flame with formation of sulfur dioxide, which has a suffocating and irritating odor.
Sulfur is insoluble in water but soluble in carbon disulfide and, to a lesser extent, in other nonpolar organic solvents, such as benzene and toluene.