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
Solid solution phase of each element is of the same crystal structure, and the similar properties of the two elements allow for unbiased substitution through the full range of relative concentrations. Solid solutions have important commercial and industrial applications, as such mixtures often have superior properties to pure materials. Many metal alloys are solid solutions. Even small amounts of solute can affect the electrical and physical properties of the solvent. The binary phase diagram in "Fig. 2" shows the phases of a mixture of two substances in varying concentrations, formula_1 and formula_2. The region labeled "formula_3" is a solid solution, with formula_2