Period 2 element two make up all natural occurrence of lithium on Earth, although further isotopes have been synthesized. In ionic compounds, lithium loses an electron to become positively charged, forming the cation Li. Lithium is the first alkali metal in the periodic table, and the first metal of any kind in the periodic table. At standard temperature and pressure, lithium is a soft, silver-white, highly reactive metal. With a density of 0.564 g·cm, lithium is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Lithium is one of the few elements synthesized in the Big Bang, making it a primordial element. Lithium
Gauss's principle of least constraint is equivalent to D'Alembert's principle. The principle of least constraint is qualitatively similar to Hamilton's principle, which states that the true path taken by a mechanical system is an extremum of the action. However, Gauss's principle is a true (local) "minimal" principle, whereas the other is an "extremal" principle. Hertz's principle of least curvature is a special case of Gauss's principle, restricted by the two conditions that there be no applied forces and that all masses are identical. (Without loss of generality, the masses may be set equal to one.) Under these conditions, Gauss's minimized quantity can be written The