Element-ary

Obscuring Li's Obfuscation of Implementation, Archived Material, and Delineation 

Lithium is an interesting element.  It's in the same group of Rubidium and Francium.  So... highly reactive.  But we all still love it because, well, Tesla.  Their batteries are Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion).  There is a difference between Li-ion and just plain Lithium batteries.  Lithium batteries can't be recharged, but Li-ion batteries can.  

There is Lithium here, but in the batteries.

Lithium in its true form

A Lithium atom

But onto the topic of how the element works.  It is element in group one, so it is unstable especially with water.  Sodium's best friend, maybe, I don't really know.  But it's not like Sodium, exploding with air, you can keep it in stuff like oil, or a dry place.  And since it is less dense than oil, it floats.

Lithium was discovered in 1817 by Johan August Arfwedson.  He did it by electrolysis of Lithium oxide.  Later, as in, today, they do it through Lithium Chloride, which get's it not its pure form.  So how do we know it exists?  What I just said and with electron microscopes.

Lithium is most commonly found in electric cars and in the spodumene, petaline, lepidolite, and amblygonite.  There are other places where it is found, but these are the most common compounds.    It is highly reactive with water in its pure form, so... don't.  Other than that, it's fairly safe.  

Quick reference
Atomic weight = 7
Atomic Number = 3
Year discovered = 1817

Group/column = 1
Period/row = 2