#Beryllium periodic table windows

Isotopes: Beryllium has nine isotopes with known half-lives. Source: The mineral beryl, Be 3Al 2(SiO 3) 6 is the most important source of beryllium.Ĭommercially it is produced by the reduction of the fluoride with magnesium metal.

#Beryllium periodic table windows

Unlike most metals, beryllium is virtually transparent to x-rays and hence it is used in radiation windows for x-ray tubes.īeryllium alloys are used in the aerospace industry as light-weight materials for high performance aircraft, satellites and spacecraft.īeryllium is used as an alloy with copper to make spark-proof tools.īeryllium is also used in nuclear reactors as a reflector and absorber of neutrons, a shield and a moderator.Ībundance earth’s crust: 2.8 parts per million by weight, 4.6 parts per million by molesĪbundance solar system: parts per billion by weight, parts per billion by moles Under normal conditions, a thin layer of the hard oxide BeO forms on beryllium’s surface, protecting the metal from further attack by water or air.Īs a result of this BeO layer, beryllium does not oxidize in air even at 600 oC and it resists corrosion by concentrated nitric acid.īeryllium also has high thermal conductivity and is nonmagnetic (Photo: Alchemist-hp)īeryllium and its salts are both toxic and carcinogenic.īeryllium is light, silver-gray, relatively soft metal that is strong but brittle.īeryllium has the highest melting point of the light metals, melting at 1278 oC – considerably higher than, for example, Lithium (180 oC) Sodium (98 oC) Magnesium (650 oC) Aluminum (660 oC) or Calcium (839 oC). He observed that the bombarded sample emitted a subatomic particle, which had mass but no charge.Ī large beryllium crystal of 99%+ purity. In 1932, James Chadwick, an English physicist, bombarded a sample of beryllium with alpha-rays ( helium nuclei). (2)īeryllium played a large part in proving the existence of neutrons. (4)īussy, however, preferred to call the new element ‘glucinium.’įinally, in 1949, IUPAC chose beryllium as the element’s name and this decision became official in 1957. A name derived from ‘beryllos’ would be less likely to cause confusion than one derived from ‘glykis.’ Klaproth also noted that a genus of plants was already called glucine. Wöhler’s countryman, Martin Klaproth, had already pointed out in 1801 that yttria also forms sweet salts. Wöhler was unhappy with the name the new element had been given, preferring beryllium from the Greek word ‘beryllos,’ meaning the mineral beryl. Pure beryllium was first isolated from its salts in 1828 by Friederich Wöhler in Germany and, independently, Antoine Bussy in France.īoth chemists reacted potassium with beryllium chloride in a platinum crucible yielding potassium chloride and beryllium. The sweet taste of the salts then led to the new element being renamed ‘glyceynum,’ then ‘glucina’ or ‘glucine.’ The Greek ‘glykis’ means ‘sweet’ and is the source of our word ‘glucose.’ (1), (3) He initially called this new element ‘earth of beryl.’ (2) Vauquelin proposed that beryllia contained a previously undiscovered element, an earth metal. Scheele is believed to have died from poisoning caused by a variety of his experiments. One such chemist was Karl Scheele from Sweden, who discovered chlorine and oxygen. Despite its sweet taste, we now know that beryllium and its compounds are highly toxic.Īlthough frowned upon today, old style chemists often tasted chemicals as part of their analyses.įor some, the taste test put their careers into terminal decline. We now call this substance beryllia, BeO. Vauquelin discovered a new, sweet-tasting substance in both emerald and beryl. He approached Nicolas Louis Vauquelin, a French chemist who specialized in analysis, and asked him to have a look. Haüy wondered if, despite their different colors, beryl and emerald could be made of the same elements. Beryl can appear in a number of different colors.

In 1798, in France, René Haüy saw similarities in the crystal structures and properties of beryl and emerald.