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- Name : Boron
- Symbol : B
- Atomic # : 5
- Atom weight: 10.81
- Melting P. : 2079
- Boiling P. : 2550
- Oxidation : +3
- Pronounced : BO-ron
- From : Arabic and Persian words for borax
- Identified : Compounds known in ancient times
- Appearance : Hard, brittle, lustrous black semimetal
- Note : Combine with sodium, hydrogen, and water to from borax
-
- [Properties]
-
- Boron is generally described as a shiny black, extremely hard crystal.
- In this purified form, it is nearly as hard as diamond, but it is too
- brittle to be useful as an industrial cutting material.
- Boron heads the list of Group IIIA elements. It is a semimetal, or
- metalloid. In many ways it resembles a common metal such as aluminum,
- but in other ways it behaves as a nontor, thus showing a characteristic
- of a metal. At room temperature and below, however, it behaves as an
- electrical insulator.
- An amorphous form of boron is a dark brown powder.
-