Lithium, a strategic element

Lithium is a very scarce element in the Solar System since its atomic weight is too light to be synthesized in the stars and too heavy to have formed during the Big Bang. On Earth it is also scarce and due to its reactivity it is combined in a wide variety of minerals and is difficult to extract. However, it is also found in the form of salts, that are easy to exploit, in some salty lakes, especially in Uyuni, in Bolivia. The political instability in that country triggered a coup d’etat during the month of November, and the great world powers quickly took sides to opt for the extraction of his valuable element. It is used as a medicine to treat manic-depressive disorder, in alloys with aluminum to reduce the weight of airplanes, and especially in mobile phone batteries and electric vehicles, since it has a high energy density, does not show “memory effect “nor downloads itself. Whoever controls the lithium will decide where the world moves.