Lithium and Phosphorus - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of lithium and phosphorus, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Lithium vs Phosphorus.

lithium and phosphorus - comparison

Compare lithium with another element

Compare phosphorus with another element

Lithium and Phosphorus – About Elements

Lithium

It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and is stored in mineral oil.

Phosphorus

As an element, phosphorus exists in two major forms—white phosphorus and red phosphorus—but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth. At 0.099%, phosphorus is the most abundant pnictogen in the Earth’s crust.

Lithium in Periodic Table

Phosphorus in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Lithium and Phosphorus – Applications

Lithium

Lithium has many applications, from lubricating grease, alloying additions in particular for aluminium and magnesium alloys, to glazes for ceramics, and finally, lithium batteries. In particular, lithium is and will continue to play an increasingly important role in the battery-powered clean air future. Lithium batteries are widely used in portable consumer electronic devices, and in electric vehicles ranging from full sized vehicles to radio controlled toys. The term “lithium battery” refers to a family of different lithium-metal chemistries, comprising many types of cathodes and electrolytes but all with metallic lithium as the anode.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient (the most often limiting nutrient, after nitrogen), and the bulk of all phosphorus production is in concentrated phosphoric acids for agriculture fertilisers, containing as much as 70% to 75% P2O5. The vast majority of phosphorus compounds mined are consumed as fertilisers. Phosphate is needed to replace the phosphorus that plants remove from the soil, and its annual demand is rising nearly twice as fast as the growth of the human population. Other applications include organophosphorus compounds in detergents, pesticides, and nerve agents.

Lithium and Phosphorus – Comparison in Table

Element	Lithium	Phosphorus
Density	0.535 g/cm3	1.823 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	1.5 MPa	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	4.9 GPa	N/A
Mohs Scale	0.6	0.5
Brinell Hardness	5 MPa	N/A
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	180.5 °C	44.1 °C
Boiling Point	1342 °C	280 °C
Thermal Conductivity	85 W/mK	0.235 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	46 µm/mK	— µm/mK
Specific Heat	3.6 J/g K	0.77 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	3 kJ/mol	0.657 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	145.92 kJ/mol	51.9 kJ/mol