The county contained several <a href=/pages/w/107038199332181>mill town</a>s and the collieries of the <a href=/pages/w/138834419497932>Lancashire Coalfield</a>. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all <a href=/pages/w/109718222379831>cotton</a> manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire.
Therefore on both counts, beryllium holds onto its electrons more strongly than lithium. The end result is that whereas lithium can form ionic bonds, beryllium cannot. What actually happens when beryllium tries to bond with a nonmetal? Naively, you might postulate that beryllium and chlorine would form the ionic compound BeCl2. Usually, chlorine (a very electronegative element) would pull the valence electrons of a metal so strongly toward it that the electrons would effectively transfer from the metal to chlorine; the resulting cation and anion would form an ionic compound.
1 Most crystals are ionic compounds. 2  This is because the ions in these compounds tend to stack into crystal lattices to balance between the attractive forces between opposite ions and the repulsive forces between like ions. 3  Covalent or molecular compounds can exist as crystals, though. Ionic compounds tend to have higher melting and boiling points than covalent compounds. 2  Ionic compounds tend to be hard and brittle while covalent compounds tend to be softer and more flexible. 3  Ionic compounds conduct electricity when dissolved in water while covalent compounds typically don't.