lithium was born at the start of the universe

Categories: Comparisons

An example of metaphor in popular science writing:

"… lithium – a chemical born at the start of the universe – is found all around us, in the crust of the earth upon which we live."

de Moore, G., & Westmore, A. (2016). Finding Sanity. John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder. Allen & Unwin.

n.b., Current understanding of the big bang is that it led to hydrogen, helium, and a (relatively) small amount of lithium being produced`. (Though not immediately – the conditions immediately after ther big bang were too extreme for any elements to form.) Some of the lithium in the universe today therefore resulting directly from the big bang, although most was created later in stars.

Read about metaphor in science

Read about examples of science metaphors

Many examples of science metaphors are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.