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Beryllium is the chemical element with atomic number four. Its isotope beryllium-7 provides an important route to primordial lithium-7.

Lithium-7 has three protons and four neutrons. In Big Bang nucleosynthesis it can form directly or through beryllium-7, which later undergoes electron capture. Competition between direct lithium production, lithium destruction and beryllium production produces a valley in the primordial lithium abundance versus baryon-to-photon ratio. Its measured stellar surface abundance need not equal its birth abundance because stellar transport and nuclear burning can remove lithium.