Beryllium and Oxygen - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of beryllium and oxygen, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Beryllium vs Oxygen.

beryllium and oxygen - comparison

Compare beryllium with another element

Compare oxygen with another element

Beryllium and Oxygen- About Elements

Beryllium

Beryllium is a hard, grayish metal naturally found in mineral rocks, coal, soil, and volcanic dust. The commercial use of beryllium requires the use of appropriate dust control equipment and industrial controls at all times because of the toxicity of inhaled beryllium-containing dusts that can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease in some people called berylliosis. Beryllium has a large scattering cross section for high-energy neutrons, about 6 barns for energies above approximately 10 keV. Therefore, it works as a neutron reflector and neutron moderator, effectively slowing the neutrons to the thermal energy. Since berylium has very low threshold energy for neutron emission, it can be used as a neutron source in nuclear reactors. The Sb-Be source is based on (γ,n) reaction (i.e. it emits photoneutrons).

Oxygen

Oxygen is a colourless, odourless reactive gas, the chemical element of atomic number 8 and the life-supporting component of the air. It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. By mass, oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium.

Beryllium in Periodic Table

Oxygen in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Beryllium and Oxygen – Applications

Beryllium

Berylium can be utilized as alloying agent in production of beryllium-copper, X-ray detection diagnostics, manufacture of computer peripherals, in nuclear reactors as neutron moderators and reflectors. 80% of the beryllium used goes into copper beryllium alloys. The combination of light weight with high strength at extreme temperatures makes beryllium metal and aluminium beryllium alloys ideal for use in high performance aerospace applications such as components of rockets. Transparency to x-radiation makes pure beryllium metal essential in security equipment and high-resolution medical imaging technology, such as mammography to detect breast cancer. Copper beryllium is the hardest and strongest of any copper alloy (UTS up to 1,400 MPa), in the fully heat treated and cold worked condition. It combines high strength with non-magnetic and non-sparking qualities and it is similar in mechanical properties to many high strength alloy steels but, compared to steels, it has better corrosion resistance.

Oxygen

Common uses of oxygen include production of steel, plastics and textiles, brazing, welding and cutting of steels and other metals, rocket propellant, oxygen therapy, and life support systems in aircraft, submarines, spaceflight and diving. Smelting of iron ore into steel consumes 55% of commercially produced oxygen. In this process, oxygen is injected through a high-pressure lance into molten iron, which removes sulfur impurities and excess carbon as the respective oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Uptake of oxygen from the air is the essential purpose of respiration, so oxygen supplementation is used in medicine. Treatment not only increases oxygen levels in the patient’s blood, but has the secondary effect of decreasing resistance to blood flow in many types of diseased lungs, easing work load on the heart.

Beryllium and Oxygen – Comparison in Table

Element	Beryllium	Oxygen
Density	1.848 g/cm3	0.00143 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	345 MPa	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	287 GPa	N/A
Mohs Scale	5.5	N/A
Brinell Hardness	600 MPa	N/A
Vickers Hardness	1670 MPa	N/A
Melting Point	1278 °C	-218.4 °C
Boiling Point	2469 °C	-183 °C
Thermal Conductivity	200 W/mK	0.02674 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	11.3 µm/mK	— µm/mK
Specific Heat	1.82 J/g K	0.92 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	12.2 kJ/mol	(O2) 0.444 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	292.4 kJ/mol	(O2) 6.82 kJ/mol