Beryllium - Periodic Table of Videos

[@Cam-el8cr]

"Good chemists shouldn't lick their fingers." That would make a good T-Shirt.

[@Alyss93]

You beat me to it haha

[@tacosanonymous8440]

Cam Ogden I need that

[@zharth.]

I was biting my nails while he said this lol.

[@randelldarky3920]

I chew My nails sometimes. I would have to quit if I become a chemist

[@ChristmasEve777]

They do if they stop at KFC on the way home from the lab...

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

It might just make more sense to assume that EVERYTHING is hazardous in powdered/dust form, then start a list of things that AREN'T.

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

+J. Hanna Not unless it's a prescribed medication that's beneficial for you. The fact that inhaled medications, especially powders, are absorbed so well ought to give us pause about what else we breathe in. On that account, many medications are now applied through transdermal patches, so we need to think twice about what we expose our skin to as well. I had always thought that it's "no harm, no foul" if you don't have any breaks in your skin and you wash it off afterwards. Now I think twice.

[@Tindometari]

If you don't thoroughly know the hazards, don't even stick your nose in the lab until you do.

[@brennanherring9059]

@@AEON. Front page of Google: "If the insulator cracks or is broken, that dust is highly toxic if inhaled." Nothing is being lied about.

[@akshatyadav9467]

Oh yeah that makes A LOT of sense

[@philipb2134]

We are rather confident that wheat flour is harmless, unless seriously misused.

[@24grantj24]

didn't talk about its amazing structural properties at all. beryllium is extremely rigid and obviously light weight. for that reason it's used in very high end speakers. also used in high tech alloys.

[@MotorStorm66]

How is it obvious that it's light weight?

[@mickmckeown9288]

Grant Johnson beryllium is used as a neutron tamper in a thermonuclear warhead...,

[@KeithPhillips]

...and in microwave ovens in the form of (dangerous) beryllium oxide in the ceramic insulators of most magnetrons...

[@floppydisk921]

@@MotorStorm66 it's number 4 on the periodic table. It's the first metal

[@LucarioBoricua]

@@floppydisk921 Second metal, don't forget about lithium!

[@karhukivi]

An emerald is a very pure form of the mineral beryl (beryllium aluminium silicate) which can be found as pale-green-blue crystals looking like hexagonal prisms in a type of granite vein known as pegmatite.

[@ynntari2775]

and they contain Chromium which makes them green. Other elements instead of Chromium can turn the Beryl into different colours, making Aquamarines, Maxixes, Morganites, Golden Beryls and Red Beryls. The purest form of Beryl, without any element inside apart from the Beryl molecule itself, is Goshenite, and it's one of the most transparent crystals ever, no colour, completely transparent and clear. In fact, in old times, italians used to make glasses made of Goshenite because they couldn't make glass be so clear. Beryl is the main source of Beryllium, there's not really any "Beryllium ore" apart from these gemstones.

[@karhukivi]

@@ynntari2775 You forgot to mention Emerald, which is the chromium-bearing form of beryl and most of which are produced in Colombia but some in Brazil, India and Zambia, and formerly in Austria.

[@ynntari2775]

Why is my username suddenly "ynntari2775" instead of "wynntari" as I intended? That's so... peasant.

[@karhukivi]

@@ynntari2775 No idea! YT also jumps between username and actual name too, I don't know why or how it does that.

[@zool201975]

beryllium is also used as a coating on tools when you work with very volatile material. when it hits something unlike other metals it never sparks and this is why many tools used by explosive experts/technicians are beryllium coated

[@Telephonebill51]

Most non-spark beryllium items are beryllium-bronze alloys, not coatings.

[@KarbineKyle]

I have samples of beryllium metal. It's very light. When it comes to weight, it's like holding plastic. It's also very hard. It's extremely toxic if beryllium dust is inhaled, but not so much as a solid piece if you hold it. It's very useful in producing neutrons if you have an alpha particle source.

[@Tindometari]

Also, if you alloy it with lithium and magnesium, you can get a metal that's amazingly strong, but only a little more dense than water. Some aerospace engineers get hard or wet just thinking about the stuff.

[@5thDragonDreamCaster]

When alloyed with copper, it makes a very strong alloy for non-sparking tools.

[@fidelcastro8378]

Hey but with a neutron we can make plutonium 239 with Uranium 238 like David Hahn

[@Antonio-qm3bi]

@@Tindometari 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ynntari2775]

oh, you have to inhale it for the toxicity Thanks for pointing this out I was worried wondering about the solid metal, which is the default form of metals for me. It's like Quartz, it's "super toxic" if you sniff its dust but not very much as a table.

[@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong]

Only the best chemists lick their fingers

[@bentom345]

Or the ones that do no actual chemistry.

[@jasonpatowsky6929]

Armchair chemists

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

+Jason Patowsky Someone else performs the experiments, and they just write the papers and get the credit?

[@justincronkright5025]

We had prospective chemists in our HS labs... But they we're more the smell things kind of morons!

[@0x8badf00d]

Cody?

[@flyfaen1]

Beryllium may not be used much in scientific chemistry, but more so in metallurgy. For instance Be is the best alloying element to achieve high strength copperalloys, that also is less prown to storing static electric charge, and thus used in tools for handeling explosives, in industry known as "CUBE" (from CuBe) It's also used in Space vessels like sattelites in a more pure form for mono-propellant thrustchambers and expansion bells, due to its high mechanical strength, heat resistance and very low weight. It is poisonous, but as long as it's machined wet and nitrile gloves are used, it's OK to handle, best done in computer numerically controlled machinery. Expencive tho.

[@unf3z4nt]

Then breathe in the dust.

[@dale116dot7]

Beryllium also reacts to alpha particles in an interesting way. It changes to carbon and releases a bunch of neutrons. Polonium is a convenient source of those alpha particles. Exactly what you need to kick start a nuclear warhead at the right time, and the beryllium-polonium initiator (“Urchin”) is one thing that Mound Labs in Dayton, Ohio is famous for producing.

[@elliotmorandi2674]

The primary reason Beryllium was used to make certain components on the James Webb space telescope is that Beryllium is *extremely* resistant to thermal expansion or contraction. The primary science instruments of the JSWT operate at incredibly tight tolerances and incredibly low temperatures - something out of alignment by a spec of dust can completely destroy an observation or even make it not possible at all. The last thing you need is for a metal frame to expand or contract due to minor changes in temperature. Now, the mirrors can all be moved and adjusted to make up for slight variances, but that takes energy and time - Beryllium use greatly reduces the need for those adjustment.

[@topsecret1837]

Pretty amazing that JWST has completed alignment 3 months after this comment with no issues whatsoever. It has to be a legendarily reliable machine now that it’s remained on schedule without a single flaw in its operation so far.

[@ArmandCury]

That is the best team of chemists, ever! Thank you for your magnificent videos!

[@aliasname5518]

in the industrial xray field, there are additional beryllium inserts that you can put in front of the target to harden the xrays, filtering out the lower energy beams.

[@Phyx1u5]

came here after the latest NileRed video, not a chemist but that dude may be in trouble 😬

[@Minkus1342]

Be is only mostly transparent to x-rays. For x-rays in the diagnostic energy range, (most x-rays anyone is likely to come across in the lab or hospital) the lower the z-number and material density the more transparent to x-rays the material is. So if the Be is not very dense, it will appear to attenuate no x-rays. However, if careful measurements are done, one will see that some of the x-ray photons are interacting with the material. To my knowledge, no material is 100% x-ray transparent.

[@skyethebi]

I think you should also talk about why it’s so rare compared to the surrounding elements like lithium, boron, and magnesium. It only has one stable isotopes which is unusual for an even numbered element (at least for the ones before lead) and this is because beryllium-8 which might otherwise seem stable, rapidly decays into two helium-4 nuclei (alpha particles) since those are so particularly stable. Because of beryllium-9 being the only stable isotope, it’s often passed in stellar nucleosynthesis and only occurs occasionally.

[@bharathi8018]

Very simple and understandable .Upto now i learned about silver ,copper,aluminium, iron,titanium,hydrogen,oxygen,helium and this one (i.e)beryllium and i still want to learn more elements .Thanks a lot .

[@DUKCyclone]

@blueduderanch mmm Its ore is beryl, from which a small fraction of the Al3+ is replaced by Cr3+ to form Emerald. Correct me if in wrong because i'm such a newbie

[@GRAHAMAUS]

Beryllium Oxide (BeO) is used in high power RF transistors as a heatsink as it has very high thermal conductivity but no electrical conductivity. It means that some kinds of discarded electronics (e.g. old radiotelephones) can be hazardous to you health though.

[@Flopsaurus]

This video feels so spastic. Glad your editing got a lot better.

[@Urhixidur]

Beryllium was also called glucinium...because its salts taste sweet.

[@luisp.3788]

big oof

[@TheSkogstrollet]

Noone would see on x-rays if you brought a knife of beryllium on a plane...

[@theurak1311]

+jakob lindborg great idea muahaha

[@motaaaa]

+jakob lindborg A poisonous knife transparent to x-ray detectors, better not give ideas to criminals, man

[@Muck006]

+jakob lindborg Due to the toxic nature of the metal it could be a hazard to the would-be assassin too ... and you would need far less than the weight of the blade to simply poison someone. Oh and no one who hijacked an airplane ever succeeded with his demands (and simply terrorising/harming our western civilization can be done MUCH easier ... which I wont elaborate).

[@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong]

+Muck006 Stop ruining the fun

[@Reivivus]

+jakob lindborg, you got that kind of money?

[@KarbineKyle]

I have a small sphere of Beryllium metal, and it's so lightweight! It's also a good metal to use for thermal neutron emission experiments from an Alpha radiation source, i.g. Polonium-210.

[@9A3DAA]

Beryllium is NOT toxic if it is a piece of solid metal. Poisonous is dust only! When alpha particles hit in Beryllium - produce neutrons.

[@old-bitprogaming4857]

i bought a sample of berillium today for 10 mexican pesos or about 50 american cents, it is aboat a gram, i bought it a a "medicinal" mineral store, i foun it at the emerald section, it was supposed to be emerald but i told them i liked more the metalic color than the other green samples, in my house i measured the density and was about 2 g/cm^3. :)

[@carlojaimelizzeni2171]

OLD-BIT ProGaming 10 pesos is the price to get cancer

[@699Akmal]

Great contribution Nicely presented, a big food for thought to see the world differently.

[@aldphillip2003]

Focal is an audio company that uses beryllium for their high-end audio drivers.

[@elquemando]

Unlikely. Be metal is mostly used in defense-related or nuclear applications.Some of these are relatively harmless (e.g. Sb-Be secondary neutron sources used in commercial reactors), but also in the production of thermonuclear devices. You can't just go up to the counter and order a lump of metal, it is a strategic material

[@shamarone]

it's actually been used in motorsports (brake calipers even engine blocks), but was banned when the powers that be learned of potential hazards. from what i understand, once in alloy composition it's fairly inert. front end processing and the creation of the alloy is where the inhalation danger is greatest and of course the cost trail begins.

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

One company made a bicycle frame or at least the three main tubes out of it. They had to though use bonding go to join the three tubes. As I remember, it was a $15,000 experiment

[@momof2wifeof179]

Beryllium's neighbors hydrogen, helium and lithium were made right at the beginning of the universe. But oddly, beryllium came super late to the party. In fact, it was only created when giant stars exploded in supernova. That's why it's so rare. There may be some stars that have lots of it, but you won't find much on Earth! In the ground, it's found in the minerals beryl and bertrandite. Beryl forms amazing gems that come in just about any color. There are dazzling green emeralds, deep-blue aquamarine, pink morganite, and yellow heliodor. What's more, it can grow crystals as big as tree trunks! A single crystal of beryl found in Malakialina, Madagascar was 59 feet (18 meters) long, more than 11 feet (3.4 meters) across, and weighed 419 tons (380 tonnes). That'd make some ring!

[@bharathi8018]

Hi . I am Bharathi doing second year in aviation engg. In my early age chemistry is the unlikely subject bcos my father is a physics teacher .But now by listening to yor periodic table of videos - it makes me to learn about our nature i mean some basics about the elements and in our books in india no visually shown the elements .But here u show all variety of elements and their properties.It is very helpfull for me .The essays given by you are very simple and also understandable.

[@prashaanth_6755]

inneram kolandha kutti ellaam eduthrupingale. kolandha enna standard padikidhu ippo

[@whoijacket]

Reminds me of the advice I got when carrying lead bricks to shield a gamma counter: "Please wash your hands before you eat anything...."

[@cv4wheeler]

At work we found that moving more than 25 lead bricks in a day, for example to build a shielding enclosure, raised the possibility of being overexposed to airborne lead dust.

[@GaseousNobility]

Beryllium is also a component of gemstones called beryls. Amazing how something poisonous can create something pretty.

[@1.4142]

There's also its high stiffness, low density, use in james webb, and presence in gemstones.

[@speedstackinggirl]

Cool!! love the hair of the person that has an afro.

[@stevenvh17]

Low mass. You could use gold for reflectors too, but gold has a 10 times higher mass, and you want to keep the launch mass as low as possible, to allow as much payload as possible.

[@EthanNin0]

Why is Beryllium used for the Webb Telescope primary mirror?

[@KarbineKyle]

I have a sample of Be metal. It's ~1 gram sphere. It's lightweight, and feels like plastic, but inside a glass vial, it sounds like any solid metal. Ingestion of Be dust is nowhere near as dangerous as inhalation. It's great for focusing X-ray and gamma ray wavelengths in nuclear science. It has great properties to slow neutrons to its thermal state (thermal neutrons). They're used in nuclear fuel rods and weapons as a moderator. It's light, very hard, with a very high melting point of 1287 ºC.

[@ph11p3540]

This metal was used around the pilot tub and engine nacelles of the AH-64 Apache. 20mm thick beryllium oxide. Super toxic, super hard and super brittle as a rigid sponge. So it had to be dipped in molten aluminum and sandwiched between kevlar spall layers. A lot of Desert Storm disorders were prevalent among Apache crews most likely associated with the beryllium dust despite the best efforts to encapsulate and sandwich this metal. Would not surprise me a lot of the crews that worked with the Apache had serious chronic health problems or cancer from this armor

[@ethorii]

I had no idea Chris Christie used to be a British scientist!

[@carolnorton2551]

+e w LOL!

[@SomeRandomFellow]

That guy doing the experiments reminds me of Samwise Gamgee :P

[@Raphi]

Or James Corden

[@PeteHemdem]

Aquamarine and emerald forms of beryl crystal. Be3 Al2 Si6 O18

[@marksmith8079]

They overstate the danger- its the dust- the compounds have simple low bioavailability so the danger of ingestion is rather limited.

[@seanmcmahon8365]

This guy looks like science

[@JosephGubbels]

@MattCadillac 15,000 euros = 19,845 usd for future reference, just go to the google home page and type, for example: "15000 euros in usd"

[@lagaugecompany4906]

Great piece on beryllium , if you ever need these mirrors please give us a call

[@glenwoofit]

Also found in RF Power Transistors.

[@bobweiss8682]

And other exotic power electronics, as well. In the form of beryllium oxide, BeO. This is a white ceramic material that is an electrical insulator, but has very high thermal conductivity. Used to conduct the heat out of the semiconductor die, and into an external heatsink while maintaining electrical isolation.

[@Legolaaa]

Beryllium. Hmmmm I remember learning it in the periodic table but you are right, don't know any about it! until now! :D Thanks for another great video! happy new year

[@5Andysalive]

Nasa, before deciding on an ablative resin heatshield, considered a Beryllium Heatshield for the Mercury capsule. Not quite sure why that metal, but that how it was. Turned out (after a lot of sceptical testing) a Heatshield that burns away (ablative) was much more effective than one that stores and radiates heat. And cheaper. That was before the big Apollo budget.

[@Psilo007]

I like this series, keep it up. I'm glad I subscribed! Note: Only lick your fingers if you 99% sure you've made pure lysergic acid diethylamide 25 :)

[@mahimahoo9178]

They use this stuff in speakers and headphones...

[@floppydisk921]

I know this comment was made 2 years ago but the only people I really truly know use pure beryllium metal in their headphones and speakers are focal where a huge section of the papers you get with the speakers or headphones is dedicated to what you should do if you manage to destroy or damage the element

[@umorlex]

so thats why they are so damn expensive. the dynamic range of their stuff is incredible though

[@darylcheshire1618]

I read about a berylium bicycle made as a PoC. Problem is you can’t extrude berylium like aluminium, to make a tube, you have to roll up a berylium sheet into a cylinder and weld the open ends, so every tube has a seam. The bicycle is lighter than an aluminium one.

[@robertjennings7282]

Beryllium has staring role in the James Webb Space Telescope.

[@ronaldshepard4625]

Industrial spot weld guns (arms, shanks and caps) use beryllium and copper alloys. So play it safe always wear a mask if you're going to grind on any kind of metal especially if you don't know what it is.

[@Drag0nfoxx]

Fascinating element.

[@DaffyDaffyDaffy33322]

Actually, if it doesnt interact with the xrays at all (which is what he said) then that means that its invisible to xrays. Light passes freely through the air, therefore, its invisible to the light sensors we call eyes.

[@dylz]

love these videos

[@shnzzang5996]

MY FAVORITE ELEMENT

[@dinkoz1]

Because beryllium is an x-ray "window" and neutron reflector it is used as a neutron reflector of the primary so that in the first few generations the x-rays can pass through to the outer shell of the secondary and start a radiation implosion.

[@Zaddtheman]

Great, interesting video, as always.

[@Invisifly2]

INow we have wheels that are super lightweight and strong alloys of magnesium, so would it be possible to make similar alloys with Beryllium that would be even lighter? It could be plated with another metal so the Beryllium wouldn't be able to contact anything and poison it. Ignoring the high cost, of course.

[@Remo860]

Focal uses Beryllium in loudspeaker cones with great results. It's not cheap though.

[@waynejr.6763]

TotalNekro So does Paradigm

[@tylerr5285]

Will there be another video about the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope?

[@jacobs83133]

Very interesting video 📷.❤

[@pyrinikos3477]

These videos are excellent and special in their detail and they are straight to the point and their also a great tool for building a nuclear reactor in your backyard (don’t do that at home kids)

[@GKlement]

My father works at MAX lab! he used to experiment at that beam-line. They are now moving into a new building. He was very surprised when I told him that you filmed there!

[@imChasm]

cool

[@kaviaari]

BeCl2 is linear but in it's solid form it's rather like polymeric chain. Chlorine atoms form a tetrahedron around a sine Be atom.

[@geon79]

@dafyd4 This is actually half-true... Beryllium is extremely toxic by inhalation but not as toxic by ingestion: that's why many chemist of the past tasted its compounds to detect it and survived the experience. However, even very tiny amounts inhaled are carcinogenic (class 1). Scheele died slowly of comulative heavy metals' poisoning, not because of cyanide.

[@arthurmead5341]

Got a piece of it coming in a few days

[@greghemlock6679]

Isn't it also a neutron emitter? Used in conjunction with plutonium pits to start a chain reaction

[@HomemadeChemistry]

Beryllium is also used in every microwave. It´s on the tip of the magnetron in form of beryllium oxide.

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

@MrUbertubers You rich sonova gun! Where'd u get all that beryllium?

[@theendofanerror4173]

I really shouldn't be here just because of James Webb but I am.

[@jeremiahmoyer8876]

That one dude stores his knowledge in his hair.

[@perebraco]

yet no images of x-rays through beryllium

[@cc3814]

Thats how the first artificial sweetener was discovered, because a chemist trying to create a PESTICIDE liked his fingers and it tasted sweet. Whaabam artificial sweetener.

[@4lifeNerdfighter]

Are any other elements x-ray transparent?

[@sundog486]

Beryllium oxide has been used as an insulator in high frequency semiconductors since the 60s.

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

That material was also used in early prototypes for the heat shield on the Parker space solar probe. A friend who worked on and the electrical system for it has a small piece of that in a plastic Cube as a gift for his work

[@20kilovolt]

Beryllium is also present inside microwave tubes.

[@vegetablegremlin69]

The professor has an awesome haircut!

[@bhull242]

I’m surprised that they didn’t mention that the name for beryllium comes from the mineral beryl.

[@ph11p3540]

Beryl is not that rare and can be mined all over the world yet only the US mines and smelts Beryllium.

[@bhull242]

@@ph11p3540 That’s interesting. Usually, when only a few countries mine for something, it’s because they are the only ones with access to significant amounts of it or have little else of value to supply to other countries. Beryl is pretty common around the world, yet the US is the only one that can be bothered to mine for it? I wonder why.

[@ph11p3540]

@@bhull242 Probably because of the unique type and concentration of beryl bearing rock that makes mining and smelting relatively cost effective.

[@bhull242]

@@ph11p3540 So, while beryl and beryl-containing rocks in general are about equally distributed among most countries, the kinds of rocks are not, and the ones that are more common in the US are more cost-effective to smelt to retrieve beryllium than the ones found in other countries.

[@ph11p3540]

@@bhull242 Pretty much

[@yurioxford2416]

I love this so much

[@AeonFlexMusic]

YOU WIN THE INTERNET FOR THAT COMMENT.

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

Beryllium is the strongest metal per unit weight. It also, unlike other lightmetals, has a high melting point. If it were not so toxic, we would build airplanes out of it. The James Webb telescope is made of beryllium. It is far too toxic for general use. Also, at $5,000 per kilogram, it is a bit pricey.

[@jimtheedcguy4313]

This metal scares me because my grandpa died from it after being exposed to it as a dental technician for the airforce in the Vietnam Era. I can't stress enough how important ppe is when working with toxic chemicals.

[@priyaranjan5679]

Do not understand

[@tantraman93]

When beryllium is bombarded with alpha particles it releases neutrons.

[@Therolando]

Same with if it is irradiated with neutrons. (n,2n). It is used in nuclear systems as a neutron multiplier.

[@tantraman93]

I only knew about alpha particle bombardment. Thanks

[@tantraman93]

I only know about beryllium because I used to work with nuclear weapons.

[@tantraman93]

@@AEON. not lie but absence of knowledge. Small amounts of many exotic things lurk in our everyday world. Surprising even those of us that aren't surprised much. :-)

[@njcripper]

What does one talk about Beryllium but not mention JWST?

[@jedus1]

Beryllium was one of the first atoms to have been forced to be in 2 places at once.

[@GenghisBlond]

is it active or inactive??

[@allanlank]

No mention of Beryllium Oxide, also known as Beryl, Aquamarine, and Emerald.

[@mariogarcya4083]

+allan lanktree It´s not actually beryllium oxide as it also has aluminum and silicium in its formula.

[@JoshTsukayama]

Now I'm confused. One person seems to be saying that it doesn't scatter x-rays at all, while the other says it does. Which is it?

[@massimookissed1023]

Both. Beryllium does scatter X-rays, but very little compared to other things. So it is significantly transparent to X-rays AND strong enough to resist the vacuum.

[@JoshTsukayama]

Thanks. Now I wonder how a knife made of beryllium would work...

[@JoshTsukayama]

lol i mean airplanes...

[@BenevolentXMachine]

Beast video. Thanks for these. XVX for life, R.A.S.H. 'til death.

[@simonthewarrior]

good plan..

[@nicketon6940]

I remember training Beryllium oxide clean up procedures to death in the navy. I think if there was a fire in a compartment that had Beryllium components was when it got dangerous.

[@uriituw]

Needs more Beryllium!

[@liantolinawati2346]

Nasa used beryllium on the James Webb space telescope.

[@GetMeThere1]

"good chemists shouldn't lick their fingers..." Nice to know that one could compile a guide book that would work for both chemists and proctologists...

[@SamuraiPie8111]

does it come in spheres?

[@kas00078]

how much Beryllium is there in that sample?

[@voltarus007]

@Opticradiation Yay KZbin, youve taught one person to spell beer using the periodic table. woot.