week 8 alkali earth metal of the week

I chose Lithium as my alkali earth metal of the week, because it is in the mineral water of my beloved Harbin Hot Springs and keeps us happy there -- you probably all know about Lithium being used to treat bipolar disorder, and that in the Old Days, people sent their crazy relatives to spas for a a couple months. They'd get all evened out there, due to the Lithium in the mineral water, but then they'd go home and get all manic or depressed again. Now some of us are smart enough to MOVE TO the spa and live there happily. But all of this is the lithium on, Li+. Lithium in it's elemental form is a soft alkali metal, silver-white in color. It's the lightest metal, the least dense solid element. It's highly reactive, as alkali earth metals tend to be. It corrodes quickly in moist air, forming a black tarnish, so it is normally stored under a cover of oil. There is a theory that it is one of the elements synthesized in the "Big Bang." Trace amounts of it are found in the ocean and in some organisms. Besides being used as a mood stabilizer, it's also used in heat resistant glass and ceramics, and in aircraft -- it has a high strength to weight ratio. And of course in Lithium batteries. On a darker note, splitting Lithium atoms was the first man-made nuclear reaction and lithium deuteride serves as the fusion fuel in staged thermo-nuclear weapons. Hmm. I'd rather they didn't do that with it.