Beryllium Facts 1

Beryllium is the fourth element of the periodic table, with element symbol Be. You encounter it in non-sparking tools and gemstones, such as emerald and aquamarine. These beryllium facts contain chemical and physical data along with general information and history.

Basic Beryllium Facts

Name: Beryllium

Atomic Number: 4

Element Symbol: Be

Group: 2

Period: 2

Block: s

Element Family: Alkaline Earth

Atomic Mass: 9.012182(3)

Electron Configuration: [He]2s² (shorthand) or 1s²2s² (full)

Discovery: Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin in 1798.
Vauquelin was investigating the chemical properties of beryls. Beryls come in a wide variety of colors, but have similar chemical attributes. Vauquelin isolated a compound containing an unknown element with a sweet taste. Pure beryllium was first isolated in 1828 by German chemist Friederich Wöhler and French chemist Antoine Bussy, independently from each other.

Name Origin: Vauquelin named his element after the substance he was investigating, beryl. He first named the substance Earth of beryl, but switched to glucenum to reflect the sweet taste. Wöhler proposed changing the name from the taste property since there are many elements with a sweet taste. He named the element beryllium after the Greek word beryllos for beryl.

Natural Isotopes:

Beryllium is nearly 100% beryllium-9. Two other natural isotopes occur in trace amounts.

⁷Be
Beryllium-7 is a radioactive isotope containing 3 neutrons. It decays into ⁷Li through electron capture. Its half-life is 53.12 days.

⁹Be
Beryllium-9 is the most common natural isotope. It contains 5 neutrons and is stable.

¹⁰Be
Beryllium-10 is a radioactive isotope containing 6 neutrons. It decays into ¹⁰B by β- decay with a half-life 1.36 million years.

Biological Role and Toxicity of Beryllium

Beryllium has no known essential biological role in humans, plants, or animals.

Toxicity:
Beryllium is highly toxic, especially when inhaled as dust or fumes. It can cause a chronic allergic lung condition called chronic beryllium disease (CBD) or berylliosis, even at low exposure levels.

Health Effects:

• Inhalation: Lung inflammation, scarring, coughing, shortness of breath
• Skin contact: Rashes, ulcers
• Carcinogenic potential: Classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer)

Occupational Hazards:
Workers in aerospace, electronics, and mining industries are at greatest risk. Strict workplace exposure limits and personal protective equipment are essential for safety.

Environmental Behavior:
Beryllium does not bioaccumulate significantly and is generally immobile in soil. However, its soluble compounds are potentially harmful to aquatic life.

Physical Data

Density: 1.85 g/cm³

Melting Point: 1560 K (1287 ºC or 2349 ºF)

Boiling Point: 3243 K (2970 ºC or 5338 ºF)

State at 20ºC: Solid

Heat of Fusion: 12.2 kJ/mol

Heat of Vaporization: 292 kJ/mol

Molar Heat Capacity: 16.443 J/mol·K

Crystal Structure: hexagonal close-packed (hcp)

Magnetic Ordering: diamagnetic

Atomic Data

Atomic Radius: 1.12 Å (empirical)

Covalent Radius: 0.96 Å

Van der Waals Radius:  1.82 Å

Electron Affinity: not stable

Electronegativity: (Pauling scale): 1.85

1^st Ionization Energy: 899.504 kJ/mol

2^nd Ionization Energy: 1757.108 kJ/mol

3^rd Ionization Energy: 14848.767 kJ/mol

4^th Ionization Energy: 21006.658 kJ/mol

Oxidation States: +2 (common), 0, +1 (uncommon)

Abundance and Sources of Beryllium

Beryllium is a relatively rare element in Earth’s crust, making up about 2–6 parts per million by weight. Although not abundant, it concentrates in specific minerals, most notably:

• Beryl (Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈) – the primary commercial ore
• Bertrandite (Be₄Si₂O₇(OH)₂) – the main source of mined beryllium in the United States
• Other minerals: phenakite, chrysoberyl

Geological Sources:

• Found in pegmatite veins, granitic rocks, and mica schists
• Often occurs alongside lithium, tantalum, and tin deposits

Major Producing Countries:

• United States (especially Utah)
• China
• Brazil
• Madagascar
• Mozambique

Beryllium is not typically found in its elemental form in nature due to its strong affinity for oxygen. Instead, it’s extracted from ores through a multi-step process that includes crushing, chemical treatment, and reduction.

Uses of Beryllium

Despite its scarcity and toxicity, beryllium’s unique properties make it valuable in various advanced technologies. Its light weight, stiffness, high melting point, and transparency to X-rays are key to its applications.

Major Uses:

• Aerospace and Defense
  • Structural components in satellites, aircraft, and missiles
  • Lightweight mirrors for telescopes (e.g., James Webb Space Telescope)
• Nuclear Industry
  • Neutron reflector and moderator in nuclear reactors
  • Used in nuclear weapons and fusion experiments
• Electronics and Telecommunications
  • Beryllium copper (BeCu) alloys: non-sparking tools, electrical connectors, springs, and switches
  • Heat sinks and high-performance electronics
• Medical and Scientific Equipment
  • X-ray windows (transparent to X-rays but strong)
  • Particle detectors and analytical instruments
• Automotive and Mechanical Engineering
  • High-performance brake discs and precision instruments

Although beryllium is expensive, small quantities are sufficient for most applications, particularly when alloyed with copper or other metals.

Fun Beryllium Facts

• Beryllium is a soft, silvery-white metal with low density. Crystals are strong but brittle.
• Beryllium is added to alloys to increase electrical and thermal conductivity.
• Beryllium tools are made to prevent sparking when the tool strikes another metal. These tools are vital in environments where the risk of flames or explosions are high.
• Beryllium has the highest melting point of the light metals.
• Beryllium was discovered while investigating beryls. Beryls are minerals with chemical formula Be₃Al₂(SiO₃)₆ that come in many different colors.
• Beryllium has a sweet taste. One standard test for early chemists was a taste test. What does the sample taste like? Today, we know beryllium and its compounds are all extremely toxic and carcinogenic.
• One early name for beryllium was glyceynum after the Greek word glykis meaning sweet.
• Beryllium is relatively transparent to x-rays. Beryllium foil is used as the window for x-ray emitters.
• Beryllium is used in nuclear as neutron moderators and reflectors.
• Beryllium is used as a target for neutron production. When bombarded with alpha particles (helium nuclei), the resulting reaction can produce a high yield of neutrons.
• Although beryllium has a low atomic number (4), it is surprisingly rare in Earth’s crust because it is not formed in significant amounts during stellar nucleosynthesis and is often destroyed inside stars.

Learn more about elements on the periodic table.

References

• Boesgaard, A. M. (1976). “Beryllium in main-sequence stars”. Astrophysical Journal. 210: 466–474. doi:10.1086/154849
• Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
• Kumberger, Otto; Schmidbaur, Hubert (1993). “Warum ist Beryllium so toxisch?”. Chemie in unserer Zeit (in German). 27 (6): 310–316. doi:10.1002/ciuz.19930270611
• Vauquelin, Louis-Nicolas (1798). “De l’Aiguemarine, ou Béril; et découverie d’une terre nouvelle dans cette pierre” [Aquamarine or beryl; and discovery of a new earth in this stone]. Annales de Chimie. 26: 155–169.
• Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.