As you might already be aware, each month, someone writes a page in the journal about one element. These short pieces are pretty informal, and often include some anecdotes or historical tales about a particular element. As we make our way through the periodic table, I\u2019ve been wanting to share some of these stories with you.<\/p>\n
In our May issue<\/a>, Ralph Puchta<\/a> from the University of Erlangen-N\u00fcrnberg tells us about beryllium.<\/p>\n Did you know that beryllium plays an important role in the nuclear carbon formation in space? Under just the right conditions, two 2<\/sub>4<\/sup>He nuclei (also known as alpha particles) first combine into a 4<\/sub>8<\/sup>Be atom which can then \u2014 despite its instability \u2014 form one 6<\/sub>12<\/sup>C atom on encountering a third alpha particle.<\/p>\n It is also present in nature in pretty gemstones such as emeralds and aquamarines, which essentially consist of beryl (beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate), with a few transition metal impurities that give them their colour. Beryl is the mineral from which beryllium was first isolated in 1798 and, obviously, named \u2014 although \u2018glucinium\u2019 had also been proposed at the time, because beryllium salts tasted sweet. \u2018Glucinium\u2019 was finally abandoned after nearly 160 years of using the two names.<\/p>\n Semantics aside, beryllium and a lot of its compounds are known to be toxic (so I wouldn’t want to taste exactly how sweet they are myself!), in particular in the form of powders, and should be handled with care. Still, it displays an array of properties that are attractive for applications ranging from radiation windows for X-ray tubes (it doesn\u2019t absorb X-rays much) to aerospace and military usages (it is light, stiff and resists low temperatures). Beryllium could even soon find its way in the processors of quantum computers.<\/p>\n I’ll let you find out more trivia from Puchta\u2019s article<\/a> [subscription required to read the article]<\/p>\n Oh \u2013 and have<\/a> we<\/a> mentioned<\/a> that<\/a> we\u2019re running a writing competition<\/a> based on this \u2018in your element\u2019 feature?<\/p>\n We look forward to reading your articles!<\/p>\n Anne<\/p>\n Anne Pichon (Associate Editor, Nature Chemistry<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As you might already be aware, each month, someone writes a page in the journal about one element. These short pieces are pretty informal, and often include some anecdotes or historical tales about a particular element. As we make our way through the periodic table, I\u2019ve been wanting to share some of these stories with you. Read more<\/a> Continue reading