What are the chemical properties of beryllium?

Answer 1

Boring Stuff:
Atomic weight: 9.012
Melting point 1278 degrees Celsius
Boiling oint 2970 degrees C
Density 1.8 kg/L
Has no stable isotopes.
Soluble in all acids except nitric acid.

Is the 47th most abundant elemnt and considered a rare metal.


Medical Stuff:
If beryllium dust is breatehd in, they cause chronic inflamation of the lungs and shortge of breath. Brief exposure to beryllium is caused berylliosis.
It's carcinogenic.

War History:
Beryllium does not absorb nuetrons and reflects some of them, and it's used in nuclear weapons and in teh nuclear energy industry.

Economic.\:
Wehn copper and nickel are laloyed with Be, they become much better at conducting electricity.
Beryllium is trasnparent ot Xrays, which is why it is used in windows for Xray Tubes.

Answer 2

Chemical Properties Of Beryllium

Answer 3

Gray metal; closely packed hexagonal structure; anisotropic; high permeability to x-rays; mp 1287; bp2500; d1.8477; at wt 9.01218; valence 2; Natural isotopes: 9; radioactive isotopes mass no. 6-8;10-12
Mild resistant to attack by acid due to formation of thin oxide film. Attacked by strong bases with evolution of H2. Finely divided metal reacts with HCl, dil H2SO4 and dil HNO3; burns brilliantly in the air when heated in form of powder. Most of the chemicals properties are similar to that of aluminium.

Answer 4

Symbol
Be

Atomic number
4

Atomic mass
9.01218 g.mol -1

Electronegativity according to Pauling
1.5

Density
1.86 g.cm-3

Melting point
1280 °C

Boiling point
2970 °C

Vanderwaals radius
unknown

Ionic radius
unknown

Isotopes
1

Electronic shell
1s2 2s2 or [ He ] 2s2

Energy of first ionisation
899.2 kJ.mol -1

Energy of second ionisation
1757 kJ.mol -1

Standard potential
- 1.70 V

Discovered by
Abbé René-Just Hauy in 1798




Beryllium
Beryllium is a toxic bivalent element, steel gray, strong, light-weight, primarily used as hardening agent in alloys. Beryllium has one of the highest melting points of the light metals. It has excellent thermal conductivity, is nonmagnetic, it resists attack by concentrated nitric acid and at standard temperature and pressures beryllium resist oxidation when exposts to air.

Applications

Beryllium is used as an alloying agent in the production of beryllium-copper. Thanks to their electrical and thermal conductivity, high strenght and hardness, non magnetic properties, good resistance, dimensional stability over a wide temperature range beryllium-copper alloys are used in many applications. A typical application of beryllium-copper alloys is in the defense and aerospace industries.
Beryllium is also used in the field of X-ray detection diagnostic (it is transparent to X-rays) and in the making of various computer equipment.

Beryllium in the environment

The beryllium content on Earth crust is 2.6 ppm, in soil 6 ppm. Beryllium in soil can pass into the plants grown on it, provided it in a soluble form. Typical levels in plants vary between 1 and 40 ppb, too low to affect animals which eat these plants.
Beryllium is found in 30 different minerals, the most important of which are bertrandite, beryl, chrysoberyl, and phenacite. Precious forms of beryl are aquamarine and emerald.

Health effects of beryllium
Beryllium is not an element that is crucial for humans; in fact it is one of the most toxic chemicals we know. It is a metal that can be very harmful when humans breathe it in, because it can damage the lungs and cause pneumonia.

The most commonly known effect of beryllium is called berylliosis, a dangerous and persistent lung disorder that can also damage other organs, such as the heart. In about 20% of all cases people die of this disease. Breathing in beryllium in the workplace is what causes berylliosis. People that have weakened immune systems are most susceptible to this disease.

Beryllium can also cause allergic reactions with people that are hypersensitive to this chemical. These reactions can be very heavy and they can even cause a person to be seriously ill, a condition known as Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD). The symptoms are weakness, tiredness and breathing problems. Some people that suffer from CBD will develop anorexia and blueness of hands and feet. Sometimes people can even be in such a serious condition that CBD can cause their death.

Next to causing berylliosis and CBD, beryllium can also increase the chances of cancer development and DNA damage.


Environmental effects of beryllium
Beryllium enters the air, water and soil as a result of natural processes and human activities. It occurs naturally in the environment in small amounts. Humans add beryllium through production of metal and combustion of coal and oil.

Beryllium exists in air as very small dust particles. It enters waterways during weathering of soils and rocks. Industrial emissions will add beryllium to air and wastewater disposals will add beryllium to water. It usually settles in sediment. Beryllium as a chemical element occurs naturally in soils in small amounts, but human activities have also increased these beryllium levels. Beryllium is not likely to move deeper into the soil and dissolve within
groundwater.

In water, chemicals will react with beryllium, causing it to become insoluble. This is a good thing, because the water-insoluble form of beryllium can cause much less harm to organisms than the water-soluble form.
Beryllium will not be accumulated in the bodies of fish. However, some fruits and vegetables such as kidney beans and pears may contain significant levels of beryllium. These levels can enter animals that eat them, but luckily most animals excrete beryllium quickly through urine and feces.

The uptake of beryllium has consequences mainly for human health. However, laboratory tests have indicated that it is possible for beryllium to cause cancer and changes of DNA with animals. So far there is no field evidence to support these findings.

Answer 5

These sites will give you what you ask.

;-)

www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Be/key.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts4.html