Pellet of lithium in a vacuum

Question

What would happen to a grain of sand sized pellet of lithium in a vacuum? Because there is no pressure, would it become more like a sticky liquid?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 23 '14 at 05:37

The melting point of lithium is 180°C so it wouldn't turn into a liquid unless you heated it to above this temperature.

In principle all solids have a non-zero vapour pressure, so in principle solid lithium would sublime in a vacuum. However according to Wikipedia the vapour pressure of solid lithium is well approximated by:

$$ \log P \approx 10.673 - \frac{8310}{T} $$

and at 298K (room temperature) this gives a vapour pressure of about $2 \times 10^{-20}$ Pa, which is effectively zero. So unless you're prepared to wait a very, very long time nothing is going to happen to your grain of lithium.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 23 '14 at 01:35

0

It would sublime, at a rate dependent upon the temperature of the pellet.

I don't see any reason for it to become a sticky liquid.

answered Jul 23 '14 at 01:35

DavePhD

16,164

Ah so it would just slowly turn into a gas. – cpc333 Jul 23 '14 at 04:55

Pellet of lithium in a vacuum

2 Answers2