Boron - Applications

Boron is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol B and atomic number 5. A trivalent metalloid element, boron occurs abundantly in the ore borax. There are several allotropes of boron; amorphous boron is a brown powder, but metallic boron is black. The metallic form is hard (9.3 on Mohs' scale) and a bad conductor in room temperatures. It is never found free in nature. Crystalline boron exists in many polymorphs. Two rhombohedral forms, α-boron and β-boron containing 12 and 106.7 atoms in the rhombohedral ...

Including:

• Boron - Notable characteristics
• Boron - Applications
• Boron - History
• Boron - Occurrence
• Boron - Isotopes
• Boron - Depleted boron
• Boron - Precautions

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The most economically important compounds of boron are: sodium tetraborate pentahydrate Na2B4O7 · 5H2O, which is used in large amounts in making insulating fibreglass and sodium perborate bleach, orthoboric acid H3BO3 or boric acid, used in the production of textile fibreglass and flat panel displays or eye drops, among many uses, and sodium tetraborate decahydrate Na2B4O7 · 10H2O or borax, used in the production of adhesives, in anti-corrosi ...

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Boron, Boron - Notable characteristics, Boron - Applications, Boron - History, Boron - Occurrence, Boron - Isotopes, Boron - Depleted boron, Boron - Precautions

Read more here: » Boron: Encyclopedia II - Boron - Applications

Boron has two naturally-occurring and stable isotopes, 11B (80.1%) and 10B (19.9%). The mass difference results in a wide range of δB-11 values in natural waters, ranging from -16 to +59. There are 13 known isotopes of boron, the shortest-lived isotope is 7B which decays through proton emission and alpha decay. It has a half-life of 3.26500x10-22 s. Isotopic fractionation of boron is controlled by the exchange reactions of the boron species B(OH)3 and B(OH)4. Boron isotopes a ...

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Boron, Boron - Notable characteristics, Boron - Applications, Boron - History, Boron - Occurrence, Boron - Isotopes, Boron - Depleted boron, Boron - Precautions

Read more here: » Boron: Encyclopedia II - Boron - Isotopes

Compounds of boron (Arabic Buraq from Persian Burah) have been known of for thousands of years. In early Egypt, mummification depended upon an ore known as natron, which contained borates as well as some other common salts. Borax glazes were used in China from 300 AD, and boron compounds were used in glassmaking in ancient Rome. The element was not isolated until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, and Louis Jacques Thénard, to about 50 percent purity. These men did not recognize the substance as an eleme ...

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Boron, Boron - Notable characteristics, Boron - Applications, Boron - History, Boron - Occurrence, Boron - Isotopes, Boron - Depleted boron, Boron - Precautions

Read more here: » Boron: Encyclopedia II - Boron - History

Boron is electron-deficient, possessing a vacant p-orbital. It is an electrophile. Compounds of boron often behave as Lewis acids, readily bonding with electron-rich substances in an attempt to quench boron's insatiable hunger for electrons. Optical characteristics of this element include the transmittance of infrared light. At standard temperatures boron is a poor electrical conductor but is a good conductor at high temperatures. Boron nitride can be used to make materials that are almost as hard as diamond. The nitride also a ...

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Boron, Boron - Notable characteristics, Boron - Applications, Boron - History, Boron - Occurrence, Boron - Isotopes, Boron - Depleted boron, Boron - Precautions

Read more here: » Boron: Encyclopedia II - Boron - Notable characteristics

The United States and Turkey are the world's largest producers of boron. Boron does not appear in nature in elemental form but is found combined in borax, boric acid, colemanite, kernite, ulexite and borates. Boric acid is sometimes found in volcanic spring waters. Ulexite is a borate mineral that naturally has properties of fiber optics. Economically important sources are from the ore rasorite (kernite) and tincal (borax ore) which are both found in the Mojave Desert of California (with borax being the most important source there). Turkey is another place where ...

See also:

Boron, Boron - Notable characteristics, Boron - Applications, Boron - History, Boron - Occurrence, Boron - Isotopes, Boron - Depleted boron, Boron - Precautions

Read more here: » Boron: Encyclopedia II - Boron - Occurrence