Elemental Extractions 5: Boron Part 1

[@rttr5777]

Finally, even though you have been not posting recently I will always continue to support you, you are the one who enlightened into me chemistry I really appreciate your effort, one of your subscribers :)

[@kjpmi]

So glad to see more videos! You made my night! You're in my top 5 list of chemistry/physics/science channels on youtube as I think I've told you before. Keep it up! Content like this in invaluable and adds so much to this community.

[@robmckennie4203]

My understanding is that boric acid doesn't reduce metal oxide, but dissolves them, which is why it's used as a flux in metalwork

[@stamasd8500]

The boron oxide actually _is_ a glass after cooling down; it doesn't crystallize, at least not under these conditions. Try a cool trick with it. The next time you dehydrate boric acid to boron trioxide, when it's all melted sprinkle a bit of fluorescein over the molten mass and try to mix it in as well as possible. Let it cool, and you'll end with boron oxide glass doped with fluorescein. The fluorescein excited state usually decays very quickly, but when it's encased in an amorphous mass like that and having no light hydrogen atoms around (the lightest atom in the boron oxide glass is boron-10) causes the excited fluorescein molecule to become metastable. In other words, it acquires phosphorescence. If you go in a dark room and shine a flashlight on it, you will see that it emits light for many seconds after the flashlight is turned off. Also the light it emits is shifted towards a shorter wavelength. Instead of the vivid green, it puts out a green-blue light now. That is because the energy levels involved shift in the different environment it's in now.

[@BackYardScience2000]

Dude, that actually sounds badass! I am going to try that now. Thanks for the info! It's truly appreciated. 😃

[@Rhodanide]

Saw your thread on SM, enjoying the video! Also, I like the SM logos :P -Tetra

[@MuzikBike]

Can boron form compounds with gold? Gold forms compounds with aluminium, gallium and indium to form nice looking purple, light blue and blue metallic compounds, so I'm wondering if boron (and thallium) can do a similar thing.

[@BackYardScience2000]

Yes, it can form compounds with gold. They are used in the semiconductor industry. Now boron and Thallium, that may be different as they are both in group 13. They may form an alloy of some sort, but I doubt that it could form a ln actual compound. I may be wrong though as they are both different types of elements, boron being a non-metals and Thallium being a metal. So who knows on that one.

[@jhyland87]

13:52 would putting it in a dedication chamber work too?

[@felixthecrazy]

Borax is commonly used as a flux in forge welding in blacksmithing.

[@AltoidJTP]

Yay! A new video!

[@TheBeetrootman]

Strange in UK where pretty much everyone has a kettle and is a normal thing to own anyway

[@o0julek0o]

TheBeetrootman in the US they don't really have kettles because their mains is at 110v rather than 240v like in the UK, which means boiling water would take absolutely ages there, in comparison to like a minute on the UK mains. They usually boil water on the stove.

[@BackYardScience2000]

@@o0julek0o a kettle, like shown in the video, runs on the same 110v that your plugs put out. See how fast it boiled? Electric kettles are still much, much faster at boiling water than anything else that we have in the US. Don't believe me? Go buy one, they're cheap, like $20, and see for yourself. They're readily available to buy at any retail store. Average boil time for mine is 4.5 minutes. On my most powerful hotplate? 7.2 minutes. On my stove? 6.1 minutes. Also, the channel Technology Connections recently posted a new video going into detail on this exact subject, which prompted me to do my own tests and confirm that they are indeed the fastest way to boil water short of doing it in a blast furnace. The voltage makes little difference. But now that I think about it, the way that you stated that makes it seem like you're in the EU. So I will simply reply to that with this..... Electric kettles work just as good here as they do there. We just don't drink a lot of hot tea, so we have coffee pots instead. We just have no use for kettles. But that doesn't mean that they don't heat water quicker than anything else that we have and at times comparable to those of yours. Maybe off by a minute or two, but still close and better than anything else that we have.

[@AguaFluorida]

Do you know boric acid is steam volatile? This suggests another interesting method of purification.

[@jackgriffin7135]

Your not making boric oxide. That is fucking hilarious. How many times have you gotten those pathetic yields.? Never questioned the science? Look it up, Bill Nye. You are superheating the boron. Essentially synthesizing boric anhydride. Once you add the HCI or water, it then regressed to your oxide compound. But, good lord, dude! What a major fucking disaster! Lol. You got like a 4 part series that is ENTIRELY errronous and unfortunate. Sorry dude.

[@BackYardScience2000]

Can you elaborate, please? I'm intrigued. Also, please reply by tagging me and liking my comment so I get a notification and can come back easily. If you don't mind, that is. I really appreciate it.

[@MediaSubliminal]

I would make my own boric acid. Freeze precipitation from HCl + borax. Nice crystals come out. Is there a problem with purity when done that way? Last time I did that, I mixed it with cat food. Then I left the cat food outside to get rid of a horrible ant problem I was having. The ants ate the food with the boric acid but it didn't seem to cut the numbers down. So, maybe only good for roaches I guess?

[@destroyer4416]

15:12 the cleanest piece of copper ever

[@AllChemystery]

i used a stainless steel vessel in my video to make my boric acid and there seemed to be zero contamination from the metal.

[@TheDaken]

Is it just me or did anybody else think that at 6:18 he thermally shocked the glassware and broke it? Lol

[@whatthefunction9140]

fail videos are the best!

[@ficolas2]

Sciencemadness patch :)