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Beryllium is a metal that is often allied with copper to improve copper's strength,

Beryllium was once used on motherboards but its primary use in in contact springs found in printed circuit boards, relays, and in the mirror mechanism of laser printers.

Beryllium is hazardous only if inhaled as dust or fumes which may occur when computer are dissasembled, shredded, burned or recycled. Inhaling of beryllium dust causes a pnuemonia like condition.

Some individuals who are exposed this dust develop a repiratory inflammation called chronic beryllium disease . Beryllium is a probably carcinogen. Exposure to berrylium dust may increase the risk of lung cancer.

Beryllium does not dissolve well in water and is not prone to transport.

Beryllium - (Gr. beryllos.' beryl; also called Glucinium or Glucinum, Gr. glykys, sweet), Be; at. wt. 9.012182; at no. 4; m.p. 1287'C; b.p. 2471'C; sp. cyr. 1.948 (20'C): valence 2. Discovered as the oxide by Vauquelin in beryl and in emeralds in 1798. The metal was isolated in 1828 by Wobler and by Bussy independently by the action of potassium on beryllium chloride. Beryllium is found in some 30 mineral species, the most important of which are bertrandite, beryl, chrysoberyl, and phenacite.

Aquamarine and emerald are precious forms of beryl. Beryl (3BeO - Al2O3-6SiO2) and bertrandite (4BeO - 2SiO2- H2O) are the most important commercial sources of the element and its compounds. Most of the metal is now prepared by reducing beryllium fluoride with magnesium metal.

Beryllium metal did not become readily available to industry until 1957. The metal, steel gray in color, has many desirable properties. It is one of the lightest of all metals, and has one of the highest melting points of the light metals.

At ordinary temperatures beryllium resists oxidation in air, although its ability to scratch glass is probably due to the formation of a thin layer of the oxide.