Li + binds to the hydrogen atoms of water, making it effectively larger than either Na + or K + ions. How Li + works in the central nervous system is still a matter of debate. Li + elevates brain levels of tryptophan, 5-HT (Serotonin), and 5-HIAA (a serotonin metabolite). Serotonin is related to mood stability. Li + also reduces catecholamine activity in the brain (associated with brain activation and mania), by enhancing reuptake and reducing release. Therapeutically useful amounts of lithium (~ 0.6 to 1.2 mmol/l) are only slightly lower than toxic amounts (> 1.5 mmol/l), so the blood levels of lithium must be carefully monitored during treatment to avoid toxicity.
Common side effects of lithium treatment include muscle tremors, twitching, ataxia [54] and hypothyroidism. Long term use is linked to hyperparathyroidism [55], hypercalcemia (bone loss), hypertension, kidney damage, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (polyuria and polydipsia), seizures [56] and weight gain. [57] Some of the side-effects are a result of the increased elimination of potassium.
There appears to be an increased risk of Ebstein (cardiac) Anomaly in infants born to women taking lithium during the first trimester of pregnancy.
According to a study in 2009 at Oita University in Japan and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, communities whose water contained larger amounts of lithium had significantly lower suicide rates [58] [59] [60] [61] but did not address whether lithium in drinking water causes the negative side effects associated with higher doses of the element. [62]
6.2 Other uses
Electrical and electronic uses:
Lithium batteries are disposable (primary) batteries with lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode. Lithium batteries are not to be confused with lithium-ion batteries, which are high energy-density rechargeable batteries. Other rechargeable batteries include the Lithium-ion polymer battery, Lithium iron phosphate battery, and the Nanowire battery. New technologies are constantly being announced.
Lithium niobate is used extensively in telecommunication products such as mobile phones and optical modulators, for such components as resonant crystals. Lithium applications are used in more than 60% of mobile phones. [63]
Chemical uses:
Lithium chloride and lithium bromide are extremely hygroscopic and are used as desiccants.
Lithium metal is used in the preparation of organo-lithium compounds.
General engineering:
lithium stearate is a common all-purpose, high-temperature lubricant.
When used as a flux for welding or soldering, lithium promotes the fusing of metals during and eliminates the forming of oxides by absorbing impurities. Its fusing quality is also important as a flux for producing ceramics, enamels and glass.
Alloys of the metal with aluminium, cadmium, copper and manganese are used to make high-performance aircraft parts (see also Lithium-aluminium alloys).
Optics:
Lithium is sometimes used in focal lenses, including spectacles and the glass for the 200-inch (5.08 m) telescope at Mt. Palomar. [Citation needed]
The high non-linearity of lithium niobate also makes it useful in non-linear optics applications.
Lithium fluoride, artificially grown as crystal, is clear and transparent and often used in specialist optics for IR, UV and VUV (vacuum UV) applications. It has the lowest refractive index and the farthest transmission range in the deep UV of all common materials.
Rocketry:
Metallic lithium and its complex hydrides, such a Li [AlH4], are used as high energy additives to rocket propellants [3].
Lithium peroxide, lithium nitrate, lithium chlorate and lithium perchlorate are used as oxidizers in rocket propellants, and also in oxygen candles that supply submarines and space capsules with oxygen. [64]
Nuclear applications:
Lithium deuteride was the fusion fuel of choice in early versions of the hydrogen bomb. When bombarded by neutrons, both 6Li and 7Li produce tritium-this reaction, which was not fully understood when hydrogen bombs were first tested, was responsible for the runaway yield of the Castle Bravo nuclear test. Tritium fuses with deuterium in a fusion reaction that is relatively easy to achieve. Although details remain secret, lithium-6 deuteride still apparently plays a role in modern nuclear weapons, as a fusion material.
Lithium fluoride (highly enriched in the common isotope lithium-7) forms the basic constituent of the preferred fluoride salt mixture (LiF-BeF2) used in liquid-fluoride nuclear reactors. Lithium fluoride is exceptionally chemically stable and LiF/BeF2 mixtures have low melting points and the best neutronic properties of fluoride salt combinations appropriate for reactor use. [clarification needed]
In conceptualized nucl...
