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Boron Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.
Boron facts for kids
Boron is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol B. It has the atomic number 5. It is a metalloid (it has properties of a metal and a non-metal). Much boron is found in chemical compounds in its ore borax. Boron is never found free in nature.
Two types of boron are found (allotropes). Amorphous boron is a brown powder and metallic (crystalline) boron is black and hard and a weak conductor at room temperature.
Pure boron is used as a dopant (a substance added to semiconductors to change how it behaves with electricity) in the semiconductor industry. Chemical compounds of boron are important as to make strong materials not weigh very much, as nontoxic insecticides and preservatives, and for chemical synthesis.
Plants need boron in them to live. Very small amounts of boron are needed in animal's bodies so that they are very healthy. How it keeps animals healthy is not known in a lot of detail.
Boron was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, in 1808.
Boron melts at 2075 °C (3767 °F), and boils at 4000 °C (7232 °F).
| Periodic table | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| H | He | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Li | Be | B | C | N | O | F | Ne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Na | Mg | Al | Si | P | S | Cl | Ar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| K | Ca | Sc | Ti | V | Cr | Mn | Fe | Co | Ni | Cu | Zn | Ga | Ge | As | Se | Br | Kr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rb | Sr | Y | Zr | Nb | Mo | Tc | Ru | Rh | Pd | Ag | Cd | In | Sn | Sb | Te | I | Xe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cs | Ba | La | Ce | Pr | Nd | Pm | Sm | Eu | Gd | Tb | Dy | Ho | Er | Tm | Yb | Lu | Hf | Ta | W | Re | Os | Ir | Pt | Au | Hg | Tl | Pb | Bi | Po | At | Rn | ||||||||||
| Fr | Ra | Ac | Th | Pa | U | Np | Pu | Am | Cm | Bk | Cf | Es | Fm | Md | No | Lr | Rf | Db | Sg | Bh | Hs | Mt | Ds | Rg | Cn | Uut | Fl | Uup | Lv | Uus | Uuo | ||||||||||
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Images for kids
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Sassolite.
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Boron chunks
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Ball-and-stick model of tetraborate anion, [B4O5(OH)4]2−, as it occurs in crystalline borax, Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O. Boron atoms are pink, with bridging oxygens in red, and four hydroxyl hydrogens in white. Note two borons are trigonally bonded sp2 with no formal charge, while the other two borons are tetrahedrally bonded sp3, each carrying a formal charge of −1. The oxidation state of all borons is III. This mixture of boron coordination numbers and formal charges is characteristic of natural boron minerals.
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Boron (III) trifluoride structure, showing "empty" boron p orbital in pi-type coordinate covalent bonds
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Ball-and-stick model of superconductor magnesium diboride. Boron atoms lie in hexagonal aromatic graphite-like layers, with a charge of −1 on each boron atom. Magnesium(II) ions lie between layers
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Neutron cross section of boron (top curve is for 10B and bottom curve for 11B)
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A fragment of ulexite
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Borax crystals
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Borosilicate glassware. Displayed are two beakers and a test tube.
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Unit cell of B4C. The green sphere and icosahedra consist of boron atoms, and black spheres are carbon atoms.