Boron

Boron

Statistics of Boron

Boron is a Chemical Element with an 
Atomic Number : 5
Atomic Mass: 10.811 Atomic Mass Units 
Atomic Symbol: B
Melting Point: 2075 °C

Boiling Point: 4000°C

Valence Electrons: 10.811

Period Number: 2

Phase of Boron at room temperature: Solid
Group: Boron Group
Group Number: 13

Density: 2.46 g/cm³ 

Isotopes: Boron-10(¹⁰B), Boron-11(¹¹B)
Allotropes: AlphaRhombohedralBoron, BetaRhombohedralBoron, AlphaTetragonalBoron
% in Universe: 1×10^-7%

Oobleck, a Non-Newtonian Fluid

% in Sun: 2×10^-7%
% in Meteorites:0.00016%
% in Earth's Crust: 0.00086%
% in Oceans: 0.00044%
% in Humans: 0.00007%

The word boron was coined from borax, the mineral from which it was isolated, by analogy with carbon, which it resembles chemically. 

Borax glazes were used in China from AD 300, and some tincal (crude borax) reached the West, where the Persian alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān seems to mention it in AD 700. Marco Polobrought some glazes back to Italy in the 13th century. Agricola, around 1600, reports the use of borax as a flux in metallurgy. In 1777, boric acid was recognized in the hot springs (soffioni) nearFlorence, Italy, and became known as sal sedativum, with mainly medical uses. The rare mineral is called sassolite, which is found at Sasso, Italy. Sasso was the main source of European borax from 1827 to 1872, at which date American sources replaced it. Boron compounds were relatively rarely used chemicals until the late 1800s when Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company first popularized these compounds and made them in volume and hence cheap.

Boron was not recognized as an element until it was isolated by Sir Humphry Davy and by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard. In 1808 Davy observed that electric current sent through a solution of borates produced a brown precipitate on one of the electrodes. In his subsequent experiments, he used potassium to reduce boric acid instead of electrolysis. He produced enough boron to confirm a new element and named the element boracium. Gay-Lussac and Thénard used iron to reduce boric acid at high temperatures. By oxidizing boron with air, they showed that boric acid is an oxidation product of boron. Jöns Jakob Berzelius identified boron as an element in 1824.Pure boron was arguably first produced by the American chemist Ezekiel Weintraub in 1909.

Importance of Boron

Boron is a multipurpose element. It's a crucial nutrient for plants, an important component in the nuclear industry and the main ingredient of a bizarre fluid called Oobleck. 

Bad Effects of Boron

Boron is possibly unsafe for adults and children when taken by mouth in high doses. Large quantities of boron can cause poisoning. Signs of poisoning include skin inflammation and peeling, irritability, tremors, convulsions, weakness, headaches, depression, diarrhea, vomiting, and other symptoms.

Also, boric acid powder, a common form of boron, is possibly unsafe when applied in large amounts to prevent diaper rash.

Experiment

Want to see a cool experiment on Boron? Click the Url Link to see the cool experiment.

Boron Experiment.

Wasn't that awesome! Boron actually burns a green flame when burnt.

How Boron is used and The History of Boron

Amorphous Boron is used as a rocket fuel igniter and in pyrotechnic flares. It gives the flares a distinctive green colour.

Boron Supplements

The most important compounds of Boron are boric (or boracic) acid, borax (sodium borate) and boric oxide. These can be found in eye drops, mild antiseptics, washing powders and tile glazes. Borax used to be used to make bleach and as a food preservative.

Boric oxide is also commonly used in the manufacture of borosilicate glass (Pyrex). It makes the glass tough and heat resistant. Fibreglass textiles and insulation are made from Borosilcate glass.

Sodium Octaborate is a flame retardant.

Kidney disease or problems with kidney function: Do not take boron supplements if you have kidney problems. The kidneys have to work hard to flush out boron.

Interesting Facts about Beryllium

1. Boron is a tough element – very hard, and very resistant to heat. In its crystalline form it is the second hardest of all the elements on the mohs scale – only carbon (diamond) is harder. Only 11 elements have higher melting points than boron: these are C, W, Re, Os, Ta, Mo, Nb, Ir, Ru, Hf, and Tc. (As a challenge, how many of these elements can you name without looking them up?)
2. Boron is an essential nutrient for all green plants.
3. Boron in its crystalline form is very unreactive. Amorphous boron is reactive.
4. Unusually, the universe’s atoms of boron were not made by nuclear fusion within stars and were not made in the big bang. They were made by nuclear fusion in cosmic-ray collisions. Most of the universe’s boron was made in this way before the formation of our solar system.
5. Boron is an indispensable element in NIB magnets (Neodymium – Iron – Boron). NIB magnets are very powerful magnets invented in the early 1980s. They are used in computers, cell phones, medical equipment, toys, motors, wind turbines and audio systems.
6. Boron is used to control nuclear reactions. It is an excellent neutron absorber. Alloyed with steel or reacted with carbon, titanium or zirconium, it is used in control rods for nuclear reactors.

Be sure to check out my next post on Carbon!