Borax - Chemistry

Chemistry

The term borax is often used for a number of closely related minerals or chemical compounds that differ in their crystal water content:

  • Anhydrous borax (Na2B4O7)
  • Borax pentahydrate (Na2B4O7·5H2O)
  • Borax decahydrate (Na2B4O7·10H2O)

Borax is generally described as Na2B4O7·10H2O. However, it is better formulated as Na2·8H2O, since borax contains the 2− ion. In this structure, there are two four-coordinate boron atoms (two BO4 tetrahedra) and two three-coordinate boron atoms (two BO3 triangles).

Borax is also easily converted to boric acid and other borates, which have many applications. Its reaction with hydrochloric acid to form boric acid is:

Na2B4O7·10H2O + 2 HCl → 4 B(OH)3 + 2 NaCl + 5 H2O

The "decahydrate" is sufficiently stable to find use as a primary standard for acid base titrimetry.

When borax is added to a flame, it produces a yellow green color. This property has been tried in amateur fireworks, but borax in this use is not popular because its waters of hydration inhibit combustion of compositions and make it an inferior source of the boron that is responsible for most of the green color, and that is overwhelmed by the yellow contributed to the flame by sodium.

However, commercially available borax can be mixed with flammables such as methanol to give the characteristic green flame of boron when ignited, which then slowly gives way to the characteristic yellow-orange flame of the sodium.

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