The Chemical Element Beryllium?
What is Beryllium?
Beryllium is strong steely grey coloured chemical element with many highly desirable properties.
One of the lightest of all metals, it has excellent thermal conductivity and one of the highest melting points.
Although lightweight and stronger than steel it's also brittle. Beryllium is widely used as an alloy for adding strength to other metals.
In 1798 an unknown chemical element was identified in beryl and emeralds. It was finally separated in 1828.
Beryllium was originally given the name "glucinum" meaning "sweet" because of its sugary taste. It was later discovered that its compounds are highly toxic and should never be ingested.
Beryllium can only be found naturally when combined with other elements in approximately thirty different minerals. The most important are bertrandite, chrysoberyl and beryl.
The mineral bertrandite is a constituent of the rock known as tiffany stone. For this reason the vast majority of Tiffany Stone is crushed to extract this valuable chemical element.
