Boron Atomic number 5 Flubber Commentary

London, Paris—Humphry Davy, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, Louis Jacques Thénard elements

Boron

• Humphry Davy used electrolysis
• on a solution of borates,
• detecting a brown precipitate
• that would have been pure boron,
• but found that chemistry alone,
• using potassium and heat to reduce boric acid,
• made faster work, upon which
• he declared the metal boracium.
• *
• Meanwhile, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
• and Louis Jacques Thénard
• used iron and high temperatures
• to reduce boric acid to boron
• and then showed that the boron
• could be recomposed into boric acid
• by exposure to air, upon which
• they declared the metal bore.

Atomic number 5

• Sodium borates
• known as borax
• are water soluble
• so have collected
• in seasonally dry lakes.
• Boric acid is
• an antiseptic
• insecticide
• anti-fungal
• fertilizing
• flame retardant
• etcetera etcetera.
• Some Chinese glazes
• from 300 CE
• included borax
• introduced
• to Italy
• by Marco Polo.
• Used in laundry
• and hand soaps
• borax became
• a household name
• after 1883
• due to William
• Tell Coleman”s
• 20 Mule Team Borax
• mined in Death Valley
• and later the sponsor
• of Death Valley Days.

Flubber

• Modern miracles
• through chemistry
• include table-top
• polymerization
• of Elmer’s glue
• and borax
• a non-Newtonian fluid
• and Maxwell solid
• also signifies
• bungling.