Beryllium is in the second column of the periodic table, meaning that it has two valence electrons.

It commonly combines with Aluminum, Silicon and Oxygen to form beryllium aluminum silicate, and also Flourine and Chlorine to form beryllium flouride and beryllium chloride, respectively.

y do people want Beryllium, anyway?

Beryllium is one of the lightest metals, and it also has a very high melting point of 1287 degrees celsius. In case you're wondering how that relates to anything, at 1287 degrees celsius a person would be instantly incinerated. Ouch. It is also easily permeable by X-rays and is highly conductive of heat. What's not to love?

Generally, Beryllium is used to make the alloy Beryllium Copper, which is used in such handy devices as springs, electrical contacts, aircraft parts, missiles, spacecraft parts, brake discs on the space shuttle, and other myriad, useful and edible items. Well, not edible, but useful and diverse.

Other stuff about Beryllium

Beryllium is dangerous. It is known to be carcinogenic in humans. Curiously, beryllium tastes sweet but since it is toxic this is not a recommended way to test for the presence of beryllium.

There are many safeguards for working with beryllium.

Beryllium Disease, or Berylliosis, resembles pneumonia or bronchitis and comes from overexposure to pure beryllium dust in the air. Most people do not develope this disease from exposure to compounds containing Beryllium.

Berylliosis occurs in about 6% of people who are exposed to Beryllium. Development of the disease is determined by genetic susceptiblilty. In its early stages, Berylliosis does not require treatment. However, if left unnoticed, it can lead to severely debilitating coughs, shortness of breath and fatigue. In later stages, Beryllosis is treated with prednisone.

Beryllium can also be extremely hazardous when it enters the bloodstream. Fragments of Beryllium are highly dangerous in cuts and open sores and cause infection. If the wound heals around the fragment, it may have to be surgically removed.

How do

you get Beryllium?

Since Beryllium is not found in its pure form in nature, several different ways have been devised to isolate it from various compounds. Beryllium can be isolated from beryl through a very long and complicated process involving several stages, which I don't fully understand. It can also be isolated from Beryllium Chloride (BeCL2) via electrolysis, or from Beryllium Flouride (BeFl2) by combination with magnesium.

Beryllium metal is a compound element that is chemically ingredient with the symbol - Be and an atomic numeral 4.

A bivalent component, beryllium is a steel grey, physically powerful, frivolous yet fragile alkaline earth metal.

It is mainly used as a hardening mediator in alloys, most conspicuously beryllium copper. Money-making usage of beryllium metal raises technical challenges due to the toxic nature (especially by breathing) of beryllium containing dusts.

It boasts of one of the uppermost melting points amongst the light metals. The modulus of elasticity of beryllium is in the region of a 3rd larger than that compared with the steel.

The amalgamation of this modulus together with berylliums reasonably low down density provides it the quickest sound transmission speed of any solid material at normal conditions.

It has dazzling heat conductivity and is not magnetic.

Beryllium is utilized as an alloying driving force in the manufacture of beryllium copper, which possesses up to 2.5% beryllium.

Beryllium-copper mixtures of metals are used in an wide array of applications because of their grouping of high electrical and power conductivity, high potency and hardness, nonmagnetic characteristics,

along with superior corrosion and fatigue confrontation. These applications embrace the creation of spot-welding electrodes, springs, non-sparking tools and electrical contact points.

Beryllium is utilized in nuclear weapon blueprints as the external layer of the cavity of the principal stage, adjoining the fissionable material. Beryllium is a high-quality peddler for implosion, and the best doable neutron reflector.

Beryllium is a chemical element that is denoted by the symbol Be and has the atomic number 4.

This bivalent element is steel gray or silvery white in color. It belongs to the group of alkaline earth metals. In nature, beryllium is found combined with other elements in minerals.

It is present in almost 30 different mineral species, including, bertrandite, beryl, chrysoberyl and phenacite.

In this article, we shall learn about the properties of beryllium as well as beryllium uses.

Beryllium Properties

Beryllium is an alkaline earth metal with a number of desirable properties. Of all the metals, it has one of the highest melting points, of 1278ºC. Beryllium is the lightest of all rigid metals and has an atomic density of 1.85 g/cc. It's modulus of elasticity is about one third greater than that of steel. Beryllium is non magnetic and has an excellent thermal conductivity.

It is also a good electrical insulator and has high permeability to X-rays. Let us see some of the uses of beryllium.

Beryllium Uses
Beryllium has a wide range of applications because of the unique properties it possesses. Let us have a look at some beryllium uses.

Beryllium is commonly used as an alloying agent, for producing age-hardening alloys with copper and nickel.

Beryllium copper is an important alloy of beryllium, containing up to 2.5% of beryllium, that is used extensively in the manufacture of springs, electrical contacts, non-sparking tools and spot welding tools.

The light weight and dimensional stability of beryllium makes it useful for producing various lightweight structural components in defense and aerospace industries.

It is used in high speed aircrafts, space vehicles, missiles and communicated satellites. It is also used in computer parts, gyroscopes and other instruments, where lightness and stiffness are required.

Beryllium has a very low absorption of X-rays. This property of low absorption is responsible for the use of beryllium in radiation windows for X-ray tubes. Ultra thin beryllium foils are used in X-ray lithography, for making integrated circuits.
Naval mines have fuses that detonate on direct magnetic contact or in the presence of a magnetic field. Beryllium tools are often used by naval personnel, when working on or near naval mines, as beryllium is non-magnetic.

Beryllium has a low thermal neutron absorption, which is why, it is commonly used as a reflector or moderator in nuclear reactors.

It is mixed with an alpha emitter such as polonium 210, radium 226 or actinium 227, and used in neutron sources.

It is also used in the pipes of various high energy particle physics experiments, such as the Large Hadron Collider.

The oxide of beryllium is an excellent heat conductor as well as a good electrical insulator.

It is often used as an insulator base plate, in high power transistors for telecommunication purposes.

beryllium (bərĭl`ēəm)

[from beryl ], metallic chemical element; symbol Be;

at. no. 4; at. wt. 9.01218; m.p. about 1,278°C;; b.p. 2,970°C; (estimated); sp. gr. 1.85 at 20°C;; valence +2. Beryllium is a strong, extremely light, high-melting, silver-gray metal with a close-packed hexagonal crystalline structure. It is an alkaline-earth metal in Group 2 of the periodic table.

Beryllium is resistant to corrosion; weight for weight, it is stronger than steel, and because of its low density (about 1/3 that of aluminum) it has found extensive use in the aerospace industry.

Beryllium is soluble in hot nitric acid, dilute hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, and sodium hydroxide.

Like aluminum and magnesium, which it resembles chemically, it readily forms compounds with other elements; it is not found free in nature.

However, like aluminum, it is resistant to oxidation in air, even at a red heat; it is thought to form a protective oxide film that prevents further oxidation.

The compounds of beryllium are sweet-tasting and highly toxic; this toxicity has limited the use of beryllium as a rocket fuel, even though it yields more heat on combustion for its weight than any other element.

Beryllium transmits X rays much better than glass or other metals; this property, together with its high melting point, makes it desirable as a window material for high-intensity X-ray tubes. Because beryllium resists attack by liquid sodium metal, it is employed in cooling systems of nuclear reactors that use liquid sodium as the heat-transfer material; because it is a good reflector and absorber of neutrons, it is also used as a shield and as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

The addition of 2% to 3% of beryllium to copper makes a nonmagnetic alloy six times stronger than pure copper.

This alloy is used to make nonsparking tools for use in oil refineries and other places where sparks constitute a fire hazard; it is also used for small mechanical parts, such as camera shutters.

When beryllium is alloyed with other metals such as aluminum or gold it yields substances with a higher melting point, greater hardness and strength, and lower density than the metal with which it is alloyed.

Beryllium aluminum silicates, especially beryl (of which emerald and aquamarine are varieties), constitute the chief sources of the metal. Although its ores occur widely in North America, Europe, and Africa, the cost of extracting the metal limits its commercial use.

Beryllium may be prepared by electrolysis of its fused salts; it is prepared commercially by reduction of the fluoride with magnesium metal.

Beryllium was discovered in 1798 as the oxide beryllia by L. N. Vauquelin, a French chemist.

Vauquelin analyzed beryl and emerald at the urging of R. J. Haüy, a French mineralogist, who had noted that their optical properties were identical.

Beryllium was first isolated in 1828 independently by F. Wöhler in Germany and W. Bussy in France by fusing beryllium chloride with metallic potassium.

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beryllium

Chemical element, lightest of the alkaline earth metals, chemical symbol Be, atomic number 4.

It does not occur uncombined in nature but is found chiefly as the mineral beryl (of which emerald and aquamarine are gemstone varieties). Beryllium metal, particularly in alloys, has many structural and thermal applications; it is used in nuclear reactors. Beryllium has valence 2 in all its compounds, which are generally colourless and taste distinctly sweet. All soluble beryllium compounds are toxic. Beryllium oxide is used in specialized ceramics for nuclear devices, and beryllium chloride is a catalyst for organic reactions.

For more information on beryllium, visit Britannica.com. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
beryllium
a corrosion-resistant toxic silvery-white metallic element that occurs chiefly in beryl and is used mainly in X-ray windows and in the manufacture of alloys. Symbol: Be; atomic no.: 4; atomic wt.: 9.012; valency: 2; relative density: 1.848; melting pt.: 1289°C; boiling pt.: 2472°C

Beryllium oxide (BeO), also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO.

This white crystalline solid is notable as it is an electrical insulator with a thermal conductivity higher than any other non-metal except diamond, and actually exceeds that of some metals.

Its high melting point leads to its use as a refractory. It occurs in nature as the mineral bromellite.

Historically beryllium oxide was called glucina or glucinium oxide.

Beryllium oxide can be prepared by calcining (roasting) beryllium carbonate, dehydrating beryllium hydroxide or igniting the metal:

BeCO3→ BeO + CO2

Be(OH)2 → BeO + H2O

2 Be + O2 → 2 BeO

Igniting beryllium in air gives a mixture of BeO and the nitride Be3N2.

Unlike oxides formed by the other group 2 (alkaline earth metals), beryllium oxide is amphoteric rather than basic.

Beryllium oxide formed at high temperatures (>800°C) is inert,

but dissolves easily in hot aqueous ammonium bifluoride (NH4HF2) or a hot solution of concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4).

BeO adopts the hexagonal wurtzite structure form.

Beryllium is a miracle metal, lighter than aluminum yet stiffer than steel, making it perfect for many military applications.

Since the end of the Cold War, decline in military demand for beryllium has led Brush and its customers to ramp up commercial applications of the metal.

Beryllium is also used in such varied manufactured goods as electronics, automobiles, telecommunications, x-ray machines, and dental fixtures.

Brush Wellman began researching beryllium in 1921, opened its first commercial facility to produce the metal in 1931 and continues to operate to this day. The primary consumer of beryllium -

it was the top consumer until a recent surge in commercial uses - has been the U.S. government, which first used the metal to build better atomic weapons. Workers were not told about the dangers of beryllium dust, nor were they aware that the government and industry knew of workers dying from on the job exposures.

Over 40 cases of chronic beryllium disease, including seven deaths, and about 500 cases of acute disease, including nearly a dozen deaths, had been reported in the US by September 1947. (Read the document)