What is Beryllium?

Beryllium is a Metallic Chemical Element

The chemical element known as beryllium was discovered in 1798.  It can only be found naturally when combined with other elements in approximately thirty different minerals.  The most important are bertrandite, chrysoberyl and beryl.

Beryllium is strong steely grey coloured brittle metal with many highly desirable properties.  One of the lightest of all metals, it has excellent thermal conductivity and one of the highest melting points.

With beryllium being so light and stronger than steel makes it ideal as an alloy for adding strength to other metals.

The mineral bertrandite is a constituent of the rock known as tiffany stone.  It also contains beryllium.  For this reason the vast majority of tiffany stone is crushed in order to extract this valuable chemical element.