Lithium
| Li | 3 |
| Lithium | |
Abundance: 0.0%
Lithium, periodic table Li, has 3 protons. It can have either 3 or 4 neutrons, for Li-6 and Li-7.
Abundance on Mars[1]
Lithium may have been concentrated in salt deposits during periods when liquid water was present on Mars. Lithium might exist as lithium chloride salts, that have been detected in Martian meteorites[2].
Lithium production and use
Lithium is used in batteries, alloys, as a light metal and in a number of salts.
Lithium is an essential trace element in food. A typical human body contains 0,000007 kg. For one million persons the lithium required would be 7 kg. For an entire ecosystem serving these one million people the amount required might be about one tonne (hypothetical ratio of 100:1).
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References
- ↑ HEREDIA, A., COLÍN-GARCÍA, M., VALDIVIA SILVA, J., et al. The Importance of Detecting Lithium on the Surface of Mars. In : European Planetary Science Congress 2012. 2012.
- ↑ Tomáš Magna, James M.D. Day, Klaus Mezger, Manuela A. Fehr, Ralf Dohmen, Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane, Carl B. Agee, Lithium isotope constraints on crust–mantle interactions and surface processes on Mars,Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Volume 162, 2015, Pages 46-65, ISSN 0016-7037, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2015.04.029.
