Lithium be cut with a knife. When cut, it possesses a silvery-white color that quickly changes to gray as it oxidizes to lithium oxide. While it has one of the lowest melting points among all metals (180 °C), it has the highest melting and boiling points of the alkali metals. Lithium has a very low density (0.534 g/cm), comparable with pine wood. It is the least dense of all elements that are solids at room temperature; the next lightest solid element (potassium, at 0.862 g/cm) is more than 60% denser. Furthermore, apart from helium and hydrogen, it is less dense than
Period 3 element phosphorus originates from oxidation of the white (but not red) phosphorus and should be called chemiluminescence. It is also the lightest element to easily produce stable exceptions to the octet rule. The vast majority of phosphorus compounds are consumed as fertilizers. Other applications include the role of organophosphorus compounds in detergents, pesticides and nerve agents, and matches. "Sulfur" (symbol S) is an abundant, multivalentnon-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow crystalline solid when at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur can react as either an oxidant or reducing agent.