o 6.5 Detection in the body

* 7 Industrial release limits

* 8 See also

* 9 References

* 10 External links

[edit] Notable characteristics

Beryllium has one of the highest melting points of the light metals. The modulus of elasticity of beryllium is approximately 1/3 greater than that of steel. It has excellent thermal conductivity, is nonmagnetic and resists attack by concentrated nitric acid. It is highly permeable to X-rays, and neutrons are liberated when it is hit by alpha particles, as from radium or polonium (about 30 neutrons/million alpha particles). At standard temperature and pressures beryllium resists oxidation when exposed to air (although its ability to scratch glass is probably due to the formation of a thin layer of the oxide). The speed of sound in beryllium (12,500m/s) is greater than in any other element.

[edit] History

The name beryllium comes from the Greek beryllos, beryl, from Prakrit veruliya, from Pāli veuriya; possibly from or simply akin to a Dravidian source represented by Tamil veiruor, viar, "to whiten, become pale."[1] At one time beryllium was referred to as glucinium (from Greek glykys, sweet), due to the sweet taste of its salts (with the accompanying chemical symbol "Gl" [2]) . This element was discovered by Louis Vauquelin in 1798 as the oxide in beryl and in emeralds. Friedrich Wöhler and A. A. Bussy independently isolated the metal in 1828 by reacting potassium and beryllium chloride.

[edit] Occurrence

Beryllium is an essential constituent of about 100 out of about 4000 known minerals, the most important of which are bertrandite (Be4Si2O7(OH)2), beryl (Al2Be3Si6O18), chrysoberyl (Al2BeO4), and phenakite (Be2SiO4). Precious forms of beryl are aquamarine and emerald.

The most important commercial sources of beryllium and its compounds are beryl and bertrandite. Beryllium metal did not become readily available until 1957. Currently, most production of this metal is accomplished by reducing beryllium fluoride with magnesium metal. The price on the US market for vacuum-cast beryllium ingots was 338 US$ per pound ($745/kg) in 2001.[3]

BeF2 Mg → MgF2 Be

See also beryllium minerals.

[edit] Applications