Lithium is also much less abundant than sodium and potassium as it is poorly synthesised in both Big Bang nucleosynthesis and in stars: the Big Bang could only produce trace quantities of lithium, beryllium and boron due to the absence of a stable nucleus with 5 or 8 nucleons, and stellar nucleosynthesis could only pass this bottleneck by the triple-alpha process, fusing three helium nuclei to form carbon, and skipping over those three elements.
lˈɪθiəm ɪz ˈɔːlsoʊ mˈʌtʃ lˈɛs ɐbˈʌndənt ðɐn sˈoʊdiəm ænd pətˈæsiəm ˌæzɪtˌɪz pˈʊɹli sˈɪnθəsˌaɪzd ɪn bˈoʊθ bˈɪɡ bˈæŋ nˈuːklɪˌɑːsɪnθəsˌɪs ænd ɪn stˈɑːɹz: ðə bˈɪɡ bˈæŋ kʊd ˈoʊnli pɹədˈuːs tɹˈeɪs kwˈɔntᵻɾiz ʌv lˈɪθiəm, bɜːɹˈɪliəm ænd bˈoːɹɑːn dˈuː tə ðɪ ˈæbsəns əvə stˈeɪbəl nˈuːklɪəs wɪð fˈaɪv ɔːɹ ˈeɪt nˈuːklɪənz, ænd stˈɛlɚ nˈuːklɪˌɑːsɪnθəsˌɪs kʊd ˈoʊnli pˈæs ðɪs bˈɑːtəlnˌɛk baɪ ðə tɹˈɪpəlˈælfə pɹˈɑːsɛs, fjˈuːzɪŋ θɹˈiː hˈiːliəm nˈuːklɪi tə fˈɔːɹm kˈɑːɹbən, ænd skˈɪpɪŋ ˌoʊvɚ ðoʊz θɹˈiː ˈɛlɪmənts.