What is Beryllium?

Beryllium: One of the Lightest Metals

Beryllium is a strong, steely-grey chemical element with many desirable properties.

One of the lightest of all metals, it has excellent thermal conductivity and a high melting point.

Although lightweight and stronger than most steels, it's also brittle. Beryllium is widely used as an alloy for strengthening other metals.

In 1798, this previously unknown chemical element was identified in beryl and emeralds. It was successfully isolated in 1828.

Beryllium was originally named 'glucinum', meaning 'sweet' because of its sugary taste. Its compounds were later discovered to be 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, most Tiffany Stone is crushed to extract this valuable chemical element.