3 ms·
When you get particulate matter that fine, it needs almost no energy to get lifted up way into the atmosphere. the heavier stuff? No, it won't go very far. Lith
by lightedman 4y ago
When you get particulate matter that fine, it needs almost no energy to get lifted up way into the atmosphere. the heavier stuff? No, it won't go very far. Lithium dust? It's less dense than the atmosphere. It can go anywhere with not much effort.
- labster 4y agoThat’s not how this works. You don’t get individual Lithium molecules, you get LiCl or LiNO3 mixed with other salts in in sizes from grams to micrograms. The largest bits will fall out of air suspension first.
- lightedman 4y agoYou can get lithium compounds that are quite light from a brine lake, and the wind can have more than enough energy to shove it around for miles and miles. I've visited brine plants and done direct ground lithium mining. When mining lithium underground, you need very strict respiratory gear, because lithium particulates (especially from the dried clays around lepidolite and tourmaline) are generally fine enough to get past even HEPA filters. And at that size, it doesn't take much in the way of a breeze to send it all over the place. You can watch it just from your lighting and respiratory exhaust. It just hangs there for a good while in almost-dead air. 'Falling out' takes dozens of minutes.