Beryllium sheets (beh2) produced by vacuum hot pressing and rolling process have excellent transmittance to X-rays and some other rays, so the beryllium sheets can be used as window materials for X-ray tubes, detectors and low energy photon sources. The beryllium sheet produced by vacuum hot pressing and rolling process has excellent transmittance to X-ray and some other rays, so the beryllium sheet can be used as a window material for X-ray tubes, detectors and low energy photon sources.

The chemical activity of beryllium can form a dense surface oxidation protective layer, even in red heat, beryllium is stable in the air. Beryllium can react with dilute acids, but also soluble in strong bases, showing amphoteric. Beryllium oxides and halides have obvious covalent properties, beryllium compounds are easy to decompose in water, beryllium can also form polymers and covalent compounds with obvious thermal stability.

Chemical properties of beryllium

Beryllium, like lithium, forms a protective oxide layer in the air, so it is stable even when red hot in the air. Insoluble in cold water, slightly soluble in hot water, soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, dilute sulfuric acid and potassium hydroxide solution to release hydrogen. Beryllium metal has obvious corrosion resistance to sodium metal without oxygen even at higher temperatures. The valence state of beryllium is +2, which can form polymers and a class of covalent compounds with significant thermal stability.

The first ionization energy is 899.5 kJ/mol

The second ionization energy is 1757.1 kJ/mol

The third ionization energy is 14848.7 kJ/mol

7Be artificial 53.12 days electron capture 0.862 7Li

9Be is 100% stable

10Be trace beta decay of 1.51×106 years 0.556 10B

Anomalous properties of beryllium

The valence shell structure of the Be atom is 2s2, its atomic radius is 89pm, the ionic radius of Be2+ is 31 pm, and the electronegativity of Be is 1.57. Beryllium has a significant tendency to form covalent bonds because of its small atomic and ionic radii and relatively high electronegativity, unlike other elements in the same group, which mainly form ionic compounds. Therefore, beryllium often exhibits anomalous properties different from other elements in its family.