Lithium

Physical Properties
Lithium is a very soft, silvery metal. It has a melting point of 180.54°C (356.97°F) and a boiling point of
about 1,335°C (2,435°F). Its density is 0.534 grams per cubic centimeter. By comparison, the density of
water is 1.000 grams per cubic centimeter. Lithium's hardness on the Mohs scale is 0.6. The Mohs scale is
a way of expressing the hardness of a material. It runs from 0 (for talc) to 10 (for diamond). A hardness of
0.6 means that the material can be scratched with a fingernail.

Chemical Properties
Lithium is an active element, but not as active as the other alkali metals. It reacts slowly with water at room
temperature and more rapidly at higher temperatures. It also reacts with most acids, giving
off hydrogen gas. Lithium does not react with oxygen at room temperature, but above 100°C does so to
form lithium oxide (Li 2 0). Under the proper conditions, the element also combines with sulfur, hydrogen,
nitrogen, and the halogens.
 Uses
Electrical and electronics
Late in the 20th century, lithium became an important component of battery electrolytes and electrodes, because
of its high electrode potential. Because of its low atomic mass, it has a high charge- and power-to-weight ratio. A
typical lithium-ion battery can generate approximately 3 volts per cell, compared with 2.1 volts for lead-acid or
1.5 volts for zinc-carbon cells. Lithium-ion batteries, which are rechargeable and have a high energy density,
should not be confused with lithium batteries, which are disposable (primary) batteries with lithium or its
compounds as the anode. Other rechargeable batteries that use lithium include the lithium-ion polymer
battery, lithium iron phosphate battery, and the nanowire battery.

Ceramics and glass

Lithium oxide is widely used as a flux for processing silica, reducing the melting point and viscosity of the
material and leading to glazes with improved physical properties including low coefficients of thermal expansion.
Worldwide, this is one of the largest use for lithium compounds. Glazes containing lithium oxides are used for
ovenware. Lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is generally used in this application because it converts to the oxide upon
heating.
Medicine
Lithium is useful in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Lithium salts may also be helpful for related
diagnoses, such as schizoaffective disorder and cyclic major depression. The active part of these salts is
the lithium ion Li+. They may increase the risk of developing Ebstein's cardiac anomaly in infants born to
women who take lithium during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Lithium has also been researched as a possible treatment for cluster headaches.

Other uses :
Air purification, Optics, Organic and polymer chemistry,
Military applications, Nuclear, Lubricating greases
Beryllium
Physical properties
Beryllium is a hard, brittle metal with a grayish-white surface. It is the least dense (lightest) metal that can be used in
construction. Its melting point is 1,287°C (2,349°F) and its boiling point is estimated to be about 2,500°C (4,500°F). Its
density is 1.8 grams per cubic centimeter. The metal has a high heat capacity (it can store heat) and heat conductivity (it
can transfer heat efficiently).
Interestingly, beryllium is transparent to X rays. X rays pass through the metal without being absorbed. For this reason,
beryllium is sometimes used to make the windows for X-ray machines.

Chemical properties
Beryllium reacts with acids and with water to form hydrogen gas. It reacts briefly with oxygen in the air to form
beryllium oxide (BeO). The beryllium oxide forms a thin skin on the surface of the metal that prevents the metal from
reacting further with oxygen.
 USES
Mirrors
Beryllium mirrors are of particular interest. Large-area mirrors, frequently with a honeycomb support structure, are used,
for example, in meteorological satellites where low weight and long-term dimensional stability are critical. Smaller
beryllium mirrors are used in optical guidance systems and in fire-control systems, e.g. in the German-made Leopard 1 and
Leopard 2 main battle tanks. In these systems, very rapid movement of the mirror is required which again dictates low
mass and high rigidity. Usually the beryllium mirror is coated with hard electroless nickel plating which can be more easily
polished to a finer optical finish than beryllium. In some applications, though, the beryllium blank is polished without any
coating. This is particularly applicable to cryogenic operation where thermal expansion mismatch can cause the coating to
buckle.
The James Webb Space Telescope will have 18 hexagonal beryllium sections for its mirrors. Because JWST will face a
temperature of 33 K, the mirror is made of gold-plated beryllium, capable of handling extreme cold better than glass.
Beryllium contracts and deforms less than glass – and remains more uniform – in such temperatures. For the same reason,
the optics of the Spitzer Space Telescope are entirely built of beryllium metal.
the transmitters.
Magnetic applications
Beryllium is non-magnetic. Therefore, tools fabricated out of beryllium-based materials are used by naval or military
explosive ordnance disposal teams for work on or near naval mines, since these mines commonly have magnetic fuzes.
They are also found in maintenance and construction materials near magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines
because of the high magnetic fields generated. In the fields of radio communications and powerful (usually military)
radars, hand tools made of beryllium are used to tune the highly magnetic klystrons, magnetrons, traveling wave tubes,
etc., that are used for generating high levels of microwave power in the transmitters.
Radiation windows
Because of its low atomic number and very low absorption for X-rays, the oldest and still one of the most important
applications of beryllium is in radiation windows for X-ray tubes. Extreme demands are placed on purity and cleanliness of
beryllium to avoid artifacts in the X-ray images. Thin beryllium foils are used as radiation windows for X-ray detectors, and
the extremely low absorption minimizes the heating effects caused by high intensity, low energy X-rays typical of
synchrotron radiation.Vacuum-tight windows and beam-tubes for radiation experiments on synchrotrons are manufactured
exclusively from beryllium. In scientific setups for various X-ray emission studies (e.g., energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy) the sample holder is usually made of beryllium because its emitted X-rays have much lower energies (~100
eV) than X-rays from most studied materials.
Low atomic number also makes beryllium relatively transparent to energetic particles. Therefore, it is used to build the
beam pipe around the collision region in particle physics setups, such as all four main detector experiments at the Large
Hadron Collider (ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb), the Tevatron and the SLAC. The low density of beryllium allows collision
products to reach the surrounding detectors without significant interaction, its stiffness allows a powerful vacuum to be
produced within the pipe to minimize interaction with gases, its thermal stability allows it to function correctly at
temperatures of only a few degrees above absolute zero, and its diamagnetic nature keeps it from interfering with the
complex multipole magnet systems used to steer and focus the particle beams.
Other uses :
Mechanical applications, Nuclear applications, Electronic
 Boron
Physical properties:
 high melting points
 good electrical conductor
at high temperatures
Chemical properties:
 reacts with metals to form
borides
Uses in daily life
 used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics
 found as borax and boric acid, which are used in cleaning
compounds
 Boron-10 is used as a control for nuclear reactors, to
detect neutrons
and as a shield for nuclear
radiation.
Carbon碳
Physical properties:
 high melting and boiling
points
 Carbon is found as solid state at room temperature
 Insoluble in water
Chemical properties:
 easily bond with other elements
 burns in air to produce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and
carbon monoxide (CO)
Uses in daily life
 carbon left in a very high pressure area, all of the atoms
are pushed together to form a crystal. That crystal is
called a diamond
 Pencil, the black stuff you write with is made of carbon. It
is a special type of carbon called graphite.
 The decay of carbon-14 allows archaeologists to find the
age of once-living materials.
 Nitrogen
•Nitrogen is a chemical
element with symbol N and atomic number 7.
•Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the
periodic table, often called the pnictogens.
•Nitrogen is a clear gas that has no smell when it is in its
pure form.
•The meliting point of nitrogen is −210.0°C.
•The boiling point of nitrogen is −195.795°C.
•The density(g cm−3) of nitrogen is 0.001145 .
 Nitrogen in our daily life
 Ammonia
One of the most important nitrogen compounds is ammonia
(NH3), the colourless ammonia gas with a pungent smell can
be easily liquefied into a nitrogen fertilizer. In fact, about 80
percent of ammonia that is produced is used as fertilizer and it
is also used as a refrigerant gas; in the manufacture of plastics,
textiles, pesticides, dyes; and in cleaning solutions.
 Drugs
Nitrogen is a constituent of every major pharmacological
drug class, including antibiotics.
 Coolant
Liquid nitrogen is often used as a refrigerant. It is used
for storing sperm, eggs and other cells for medical
research and reproductive technology. It is also used to
rapidly freeze foods, helping them to maintain moisture,
colour, flavour and texture.
 Nitrogen in living systems
Nitrogen occurs in all living organisms, primarily
in amino acids which make up proteins, and nucleic
acids (DNA and RNA).
Oxygen
 Oxygen is a chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8.
 At standard temperature and pressure (STP), two atoms of the element bind
to form dioxygen, a colorless, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas with the
formula O2.
 The melting point of oxygen is −218.79 °C.
 The boiling point of oxygen is −182.962 °C.
 The density of oxygen is 1.429 kg/m3.
Oxygen in our daily life

 For Combustion of fuels in

automobiles
We all have studied the requirement of air or
oxygen to support fire. Oxygen is necessary to
burn the fuels in the automobiles..
 Carbon Dioxide/Monoxide Poisoning
Treatment
Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are hazardous gases,
and their elevated levels in the body can cause damage. High
levels of these gases in the body can cause fatal poisoning.
Pure oxygen is used for treatment if poisoning is suspected.
 Cancer Treatment
It is known that oxygen in a special form, called ozone, can
kill cancer cells. Ozone has three oxygen atoms, instead of the
two found in oxygen present in the air.
 Emergency Survival Oxygen Tanks
In many places where there is a danger of
oxygen deficiency in the air, emergency oxygen
supplies are provided in the form of oxygen
tanks. For example, in airplanes, emergency
oxygen is always available, because at higher
altitudes, the oxygen level falls to very low
values. Similarly, in submarines, the availability of
emergency oxygen kits is a must.
 Rocket fuel
Since oxygen helps in burning, commonly used fuels for
rockets are mixed with an oxidizer. An oxidizer is not a
fuel itself, but rather helps the actual fuel, such as
petroleum, to burn more rapidly.
 Fluorine
A very pale yellow-green, dangerously reactive gas. It is the most reactive of all the elements and quickly
attacks all metals. Steel wool bursts into flames when exposed to fluorine.

An univalent poisonous gaseous halogen. It is so reactive that glass, metals, and even water, as well as
other substances, burn with a bright flame in a jet of fluorine gas.

In aqueous solution, fluorine commonly occurs as the fluoride ion F-.

Fluorides are compounds that combine fluoride with some positively charged counterpart.
 USES

~Make uranium hexafluoride, needed by the nuclear power industry to separate uranium isotopes

~Make sulfur hexafluoride, the insulating gas for high-power electricity transformers.

~Used in many fluorochemicals, including solvents and high-temperature plastics, such as Teflon
(poly(tetrafluoroethene), PTFE). Teflon is well known for its non-stick properties and is used in frying pans.

~Used for cable insulation, for plumber’s tape

~Fluorine salts, known as fluorides, were for a long time used in welding and for frosting glass.

~Hydrofluoric acid is used for etching the glass of light bulbs and in similar applications
~CFCs (chloro-fluoro-carbons) were once used as aerosol propellants,
refrigerants . However, their inertness meant that, once in the atmosphere,
they diffused into the stratosphere and destroyed the Earth’s ozone layer.

~Fluorochlorohydrocarbons are used extensively in air conditioning and in

refrigeration

~Fluorides are often added to toothpaste and, somewhat controversially, to

municipal water supplies to prevent dental cavities.
Neon
Member of the noble gas family. Other elements in this family includes helium, argon, krypton, xenon,
and radon.

A colourless, odourless, tasteless gas.

Changes from a gas to a liquid at -245.92°C (-410.66°F) and from a liquid to a solid at -248.6°C (-
415.5°F).

Neon will not react with any other substance

 USES
~ Make the ubiquitous ‘neon signs’ for advertising. In a vacuum discharge tube neon glows a reddish
orange colour. Only the red signs actually contain pure neon. Others contain different gases to give
different colours.

~Make high-voltage indicators and switching gear, lightning arresters, diving equipment and lasers.

~Liquid neon is an important cryogenic refrigerant. It has over 40 times more refrigerating capacity per
unit volume than liquid helium, and more than 3 times that of liquid hydrogen.

~A neon light consists of a glass tube filled with neon or some other inert gas. An electric current is
passed through the tube. The electric current causes neon atoms to break apart. After a fraction of a
second, the parts recombine. When they recombine, they give off neon light. The light produced is the
light given off by the neon light.

Neon lighting was invented by French chemist Georges Claude (1870-1960).