Lithium carbonateLithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt of carbonic acid with the formula Li2CO3. This white salt is widely used in processing metal oxides. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines for its efficacy in the treatment of mood disorders such as bipolar disorder. Lithium carbonate is an important industrial chemical. Its main use is as a precursor to compounds used in lithium-ion batteries. Glasses derived from lithium carbonate are useful in ovenware.
Volatile organic compoundVolatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a trait known as volatility. VOCs are responsible for the odor of scents and perfumes as well as pollutants. VOCs play an important role in communication between animals and plants, e.g. attractants for pollinators, protection from predation, and even inter-plant interactions.
Calcium carbonateCalcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skeletons and pearls. Materials containing much calcium carbonate or resembling it are described as calcareous. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime and is created when calcium ions in hard water react with carbonate ions to create limescale.
Valence (chemistry)In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an atom is a measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Different sources specify different definitions, but valence is generally understood to be the number of chemical bonds that each atom of a given element typically forms; for a specified compound the valence of an atom is the number of bonds formed by that atom. Double bonds are considered to be two bonds, and triple bonds to be three.
TitrationTitration (also known as titrimetry and volumetric analysis) is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical analysis to determine the concentration of an identified analyte (a substance to be analyzed). A reagent, termed the titrant or titrator, is prepared as a standard solution of known concentration and volume. The titrant reacts with a solution of analyte (which may also be termed the titrand) to determine the analyte's concentration. The volume of titrant that reacted with the analyte is termed the titration volume.
Redox titrationA redox titration is a type of titration based on a redox reaction between the analyte and titrant. It may involve the use of a redox indicator and/or a potentiometer. A common example of a redox titration is treating a solution of iodine with a reducing agent to produce iodide using a starch indicator to help detect the endpoint. Iodine (I2) can be reduced to iodide (I−) by, say, thiosulfate (, and when all iodine is spent the blue colour disappears. This is called an iodometric titration.
Valence bond theoryIn chemistry, valence bond (VB) theory is one of the two basic theories, along with molecular orbital (MO) theory, that were developed to use the methods of quantum mechanics to explain chemical bonding. It focuses on how the atomic orbitals of the dissociated atoms combine to give individual chemical bonds when a molecule is formed. In contrast, molecular orbital theory has orbitals that cover the whole molecule. In 1916, G. N. Lewis proposed that a chemical bond forms by the interaction of two shared bonding electrons, with the representation of molecules as Lewis structures.
Goldschmidt classificationThe Goldschmidt classification, developed by Victor Goldschmidt (1888–1947), is a geochemical classification which groups the chemical elements within the Earth according to their preferred host phases into lithophile (rock-loving), siderophile (iron-loving), chalcophile (sulfide ore-loving or chalcogen-loving), and atmophile (gas-loving) or volatile (the element, or a compound in which it occurs, is liquid or gaseous at ambient surface conditions). Some elements have affinities to more than one phase.
Lithium iron phosphateLithium iron phosphate or lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) is an inorganic compound with the formula LiFePO4. It is a gray, red-grey, brown or black solid that is insoluble in water. The material has attracted attention as a component of lithium iron phosphate batteries, a type of Li-ion battery. This battery chemistry is targeted for use in power tools, electric vehicles, solar energy installations and more recently large grid-scale energy storage.
Valence and conduction bandsIn solid-state physics, the valence band and conduction band are the bands closest to the Fermi level, and thus determine the electrical conductivity of the solid. In nonmetals, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature, while the conduction band is the lowest range of vacant electronic states. On a graph of the electronic band structure of a semiconducting material, the valence band is located below the Fermi level, while the conduction band is located above it.