* Beryllium is a member of the alkaline earth metals family:
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BERYLLIUM / Be / 4
A lustrous, silvery-white, generally inert metal. Natural deposits
of beryllium are of stable Be<9/4>, though transient traces of
radioactive Be<10/4>, with a half-life of 1.5 million years are
produced by cosmic ray impacts and can be detected in the
atmosphere.
atomic weight: 9.01218
abundance: 47th
density: 1.848 gm/cc
melting point: 1,278 C
boiling point: 2,970 C
valence: 2
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Beryllium is used in relatively small amounts as an alloying element, giving materials that have improved corrosion resistance, higher heat resistance, and greater hardness. The fact that it is transparent to X-rays makes beryllium metal useful in some applications, such as for windows on X-ray tubes.
