Lithium

: This article is about the chemical element Lithium. For other uses, see Lithium (disambiguation).

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Lithium is the lightest in weight of all metals and has a density that is only half that of water. Oddly, lithium also exhibits properties of the alkali Earth metals in Group 2. Lithium is a soft, silvery metal, so soft that it can be cut with a sharp knife. Like all alkali metals, lithium possesses a single valence electron, and will readily lose this electron to become a positive ion so that it will not have a full shell, or set of electrons at an energy level. Because of this, lithium reacts easily in water and does not occur freely in nature. Nevertheless it is still less reactive than the chemically similar sodium.

Water: :This article focuses on water as it is experienced in everyday life. See water (molecule) for information on the chemical and physical properties of pure water (H2O, hydrogen oxide)....

Alkali metals: REDIRECT Alkali metal...

Valence electron: In chemistry, valence electrons are the electrons contained in the valence shell (the outermost electron level) of an atom, and which are likely to participate in a chemical reaction through bonding with other atoms, molecules, or ions....