Borax

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Borax

Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron

Boron

Boron is a chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a trivalent metalloid element which occurs abundantly in the evaporite ores borax and ulexite....
compound, a mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
, and a salt of boric acid

Boric acid

Boric acid, also called boracic acid or orthoboric acid or Acidum Boricum, is a weak acid often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, in nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds....
. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.

Borax has a wide variety of uses. It is a component of many detergent

Detergent

A detergent is a material intended to assist cleaning. The term is sometimes used to differentiate between soap and other surfactants used for cleaning....
s, cosmetic

Cosmetic

Cosmetic may refer to:*Cosmetics, or make-up, substances to enhance the beauty of the human body, apart from simple cleaning*Cosmetic, an adjective describing beauty, aesthetics, or appearance, especially concerning the human body...
s, and enamel

Vitreous enamel

In a discussion of material science, enamel is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius....
glazes. It is also used to make buffer solution

Buffer solution

A buffer solution is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid. It has the property that the pH of the solution changes very little when a small amount of acid or base is added to it....
s in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
, as a fire retardant

Fire retardant

A fire retardant is a substance that helps delay or prevent combustion. Fire retardants are commonly used in fire fighting. Water is the most commonly used fire retardant, but the phrase typically refers to chemical retardants, including fire-fighting foams and fire-retardant gels....
, as an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass

Fiberglass

Fiberglass, , is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. It is used as a reinforcing agent for many polymer products; the resulting composite material, properly known as fiber-reinforced polymer or glass-reinforced plastic , is called "fiberglass" in popular usage....
, as an insecticide

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects in all developmental forms. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the Egg and larvae of insects respectively....
, as a flux

Flux (metallurgy)

In metallurgy, a flux is a chemical cleaning agent which facilitates soldering, brazing, and welding by removing oxidation from the metals to be joined....
in metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic Chemical element, their intermetallics, and their mixtures, which are called alloys....
, and as a precursor for other boron compounds.

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

Water of crystallization

Water of crystallization is water that occurs in crystals but is not covalent bond to a host molecule or ion. The term is archaic and predates modern structural inorganic chemistry, coming from an era when the relationships between stoichiometry and structure were poorly understood....
content, but usually refers to the decahydrate.

Discussion

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Uses

Buffer

Sodium borate is used in biochemical

Biochemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
laboratories to make buffers, e.g. for gel electrophoresis

Gel electrophoresis

Gel electrophoresis is a technique used for the separation of DNA , RNA , or protein molecules using an electric current applied to a gel matrix....
of DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
, such as TBE

TBE Buffer

TBE or Tris/Borate/EDTA, is a buffer solution containing a mixture of Tris, boric acid and EDTA.In molecular biology, TBE and TAE buffer buffers are often used in procedures involving nucleic acids, the most common being electrophoresis....
or the newer SB buffer

SB buffer

SB buffer is a buffer solution used in agarose gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the separation of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA....
. Borate buffers (usually at pH 8) are also used as preferential equilibration solution in DMP-based crosslinking reactions.

Co-complexing

Borax as a source of borate

Borate

Borates in chemistry are chemical compounds containing boron oxoanions, with boron in oxidation state +3. The simplest borate ion is the trigonal planar, BO33-, although many others are known....
has been used to take advantage of the co-complexing ability of borate with other agents in water to complex

Complex

A complex is a whole that comprehends a number of intricate parts, especially one with interconnected or mutually related parts.Complex may refer to:...
various substances. Borate and a suitable polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties....
bed are used to chromatograph non-glycosylated hemoglobin

Hemoglobin

Hemoglobin is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells of vertebrates, and the tissues of some invertebrates....
differentially from glycosylated hemoglobin (chiefly HbA1c), which is an indicator of long term hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia, hyperglycaemia, or high blood sugar is a condition in which an excessive amount of glucose circulates in the blood plasma....
in diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus , often referred to simply as diabetes , is a syndrome of disordered metabolism, usually due to a combination of genetic disorder and environmental causes, resulting in abnormally high blood sugar levels ....
. Borate and a proprietary synthetic amino acid

Amino acid

In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent....
, Deselex (from Henkel

Henkel

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is an international company headquartered in D?sseldorf, Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care , Personal Care , and Adhesives, Sealants & Surface Treatment for consumer and industrial purposes....
) have been used to complex water "hardness" cations to make a non-precipitating

Precipitation (chemistry)

Precipitation is the formation of a solid in a solution during a chemical reaction. When the reaction occurs, the solid formed is called the precipitate, and the liquid remaining above the solid is called the supernate....
water "softener". Borate alone does not have a high affinity for "hardness" cations, although it has been used for that purpose.

Flux

A mixture of borax and ammonium chloride

Ammonium chloride

Ammonium chloride is, in its pure form, a clear white water-soluble crystalline salt of ammonia. The aqueous ammonium chloride solution is mildly acidic....
is used as a flux

Flux (metallurgy)

In metallurgy, a flux is a chemical cleaning agent which facilitates soldering, brazing, and welding by removing oxidation from the metals to be joined....
when welding

Welding

Welding is a fabrication or sculpture process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence . This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes used in conjunction with heat, or by itself,...
iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
and steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
. It lowers the melting point of the unwanted iron oxide

Iron oxide

Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Altogether, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides....
(scale), allowing it to run off. Borax is also used mixed with water as a flux when soldering

Soldering

Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the filler metal having a relatively low melting point....
jewelry metal

Metal

In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
s such as gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
or silver

Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
. It allows the molten solder

Solder

A solder is a fusible alloy metal alloy with a melting point or melting range of 90 to 450 ?Celsius , used in a process called soldering where it is melted to join metallic surfaces....
to flow evenly over the joint in question. Borax is also a good flux for 'pre-tinning' tungsten

Tungsten

Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element that has the symbol W and atomic number 74.A steel-gray metal, tungsten is found in several ores, including wolframite and scheelite....
with zinc - making the tungsten soft-solderable.

Small-scale mining

Borax is replacing mercury as the preferred method for extracting gold in small-scale mining facilities. The method is called the borax method and was first discovered in Sweden and used in the Philippines.

Putty

When a borax-water solution is mixed with PVA glue

Polyvinyl acetate

Polyvinyl acetate is a rubbery synthetic polymer. PVA is a common copolymer.It is prepared by polymerization of vinyl acetate, also referred to as VAM....
(wood glue), a rubbery precipitate is formed which is the result of cross-link

Cross-link

Cross-links are bonds that link one polymer chain to another. They can be covalent bonds or ionic bonds. "Polymer chains" can refer to synthetic polymers or natural polymers ....
ing in the polymer

Polymer

Food additive

Borax, given the E number

E number

E numbers are number codes for food additives and are usually found on food labels throughout the European Union. The numbering scheme follows that of the International Numbering System as determined by the Codex Alimentarius committee....
E285, is used as a food additive

Food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or improve its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , edible salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines....
in some countries but is banned in the United States. In consequence certain foods, such as caviar

Caviar

Caviar is the Food processing, salted roe of certain species of fish, most notably the sturgeon and the salmon . It is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'?uvres....
, produced for sale there contain higher levels of salt

Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
to assist preservation. In China it was found to have been added to hand-pulled noodles (lamian
Lamian

Lamian is a type of hand-made or hand-pulled Chinese noodle. It is also the name of the dishes that use these noodles....
). In Indonesia

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
it is a common, but forbidden, additive to such foods as noodles, meatballs and steamed rice. The country's Directorate of Consumer Protection warns of the risk of liver cancer

Liver cancer

Hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . These growths can be benign or malignant . They may be discovered on medical imaging , or may be present in patients as an abdominal mass, hepatomegaly, abdominal pain, jaundice, or some other liver dysfunction....
with high consumption over a period of 5–10 years.

Other uses

Component of detergent
Detergent

A detergent is a material intended to assist cleaning. The term is sometimes used to differentiate between soap and other surfactants used for cleaning....
s
Ingredient in enamel
Vitreous enamel

In a discussion of material science, enamel is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius....
glazes
Component of glass
Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
, pottery
Pottery

Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries....
, and ceramic
Ceramic

File:Bridge from dental porcelain.jpgFile:Qing vase p1070256.jpgA ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetal solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling....
s
Fire retardant
Fire retardant

A fire retardant is a substance that helps delay or prevent combustion. Fire retardants are commonly used in fire fighting. Water is the most commonly used fire retardant, but the phrase typically refers to chemical retardants, including fire-fighting foams and fire-retardant gels....
Anti-fungal compound for fibreglass and cellulose
Cellulose

File:Cellulose Sessel.svgCellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand ? linked D-glucose units....
insulation
Insecticide
Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects in all developmental forms. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the Egg and larvae of insects respectively....
to kill ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s, cockroach
Cockroach

Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria. This name derives from the Latin word for "cockroach", blatta.There are about 4,000 species of cockroach, of which 30 species are associated with human habitations and about four species are well known as pest s....
es and flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s
Precursor for sodium perborate monohydrate
Sodium perborate

Sodium perborate is a white, odorless, water-soluble chemical compound with chemical formula 3. It crystallizes as the monohydrate, NaBO3.H2O, tetrahydrate, NaBO3.4H2O and trihydrate, NaBO3.3H2 O....
that is used in detergent
Detergent

A detergent is a material intended to assist cleaning. The term is sometimes used to differentiate between soap and other surfactants used for cleaning....
s, as well as for boric acid
Boric acid

Boric acid, also called boracic acid or orthoboric acid or Acidum Boricum, is a weak acid often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, in nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds....
and other borates
Tackifier ingredient in casein
Casein

Casein is the predominant phosphoprotein that accounts for nearly 80% of proteins in cow milk and cheese. Milk-clotting proteases act on the soluble portion of the caseins, K-Casein, thus originating an unstable micelle state that results in clot formation....
, starch
Starch

File:Amylose2.svgFile:Amylopektin Sessel.svgStarch or amylum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds....
and dextrin
Dextrin

Dextrins are a group of low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the hydrolysis of starch. Dextrins are mixtures of linear a--linked D-glucose polymers starting with an a- bond....
based adhesives
Precursor for Boric acid
Boric acid

Boric acid, also called boracic acid or orthoboric acid or Acidum Boricum, is a weak acid often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, in nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds....
, a tackifier ingredient in polyvinyl acetate
Polyvinyl acetate

Polyvinyl acetate is a rubbery synthetic polymer. PVA is a common copolymer.It is prepared by polymerization of vinyl acetate, also referred to as VAM....
, polyvinyl alcohol
Polyvinyl alcohol

Polyvinyl alcohol is a water-soluble synthetic polymer....
based adhesives
Treatment for thrush
Thrush (horse)

Thrush is a very common bacterial infection that occurs on the horse hoof of a horse, specifically in the region of the frog . The bacteria occur naturally in the animal's environment?especially in wet, muddy, or unsanitary conditions, such as an unclean stall?and grow best with low oxygen....
in horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s' hooves
Horse hoof

A horse hoof is a structure surrounding the distal Phalanx bones of the 3rd digit of each of the four limbs of Equidae species, which is covered by complex soft tissue and keratinised structures....
Used to make indelible ink for dip pen
Dip pen

A dip pen or Nib pen usually consists of a metal Nib with capillary action like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted on a handle or holder, often made of wood....
s by dissolving shellac
Shellac

Shellac is a resin secreted by the female Laccifer lacca to form a cocoon, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand.. It is processed and sold as dry flakes , which are dissolved in denatured alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish much like a combination of stain and polyuretha...
into heated borax
Curing agent for snake skins
Swimming pool buffering agent
Buffering agent

A buffering agent adjusts the pH of a solution. The function of a buffering agent is to drive an acidic or basic solution to a certain pH state and prevent a change in this pH....
to control the pH
PH

pH is a measure of the Acid or Base of a solution. It is defined as the cologarithm of the Activity of dissolved hydrogen ions . Hydrogen ion activity coefficients cannot be measured experimentally, so they are based on theoretical calculations....
Neutron absorber, used in nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools to control reactivity and to shut down a nuclear chain reaction
In agriculture it can be used to correct boron deficient soils; however, it is required in small amounts. Excess can cause injury to plants.

Natural sources

Borax occurs naturally in evaporite

Evaporite

Evaporites are water-soluble mineral sedimentary rock that result from the evaporation of bodies of surficial water. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks....
deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes

Playa

A playa is a dry or Ephemeral lakebed, generally extending to the shore, or a remnant of, an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts....
. The most commercially important deposits are found in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
and Boron, California

Boron, California

Boron is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, California, United States. The population was 2,025 at the 2000 census. In 1990 the population was 2,904....
and other locations in the Southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit, such as the 37th parallel north, 38th parallel north, 39th parallel north, or 40th parallel north line....
, the Atacama desert

Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is a virtually rainless plateau in South America, covering a 966 km strip of land on the Pacific Ocean coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains....
in Chile

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
, and in Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a Tibetan Plateau in Asia, north of the Himalayas, and the home to the indigenous Tibetan people and its related ethnic groups. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres , it is the highest region on Earth and has in recent decades increasingly been referred to as the "Roof of the World"....
and Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
. Borax can also be produced synthetically from other boron compounds.

Toxicity

Borax, sodium tetraborate decahydrate, is not acutely toxic. Its LD₅₀

LD50

In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 , or LCt50 of a toxic substance or radiation is the Dose required to kill half the members of a tested population....
(median lethal dose) score is tested at 2.66 g/kg in rats. This does not mean that it is safe, merely that a significant dose of the chemical is needed to cause severe symptoms or death. The median lethal dose for humans tends to differ for a given compound from that of rats. Simple exposure can cause respiratory and skin irritation. Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal distress including nausea, persistent vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Effects on the vascular system and brain include headaches and lethargy, but are less frequent. "In severe poisonings, a beefy red skin rash affecting palms, soles, buttocks and scrotum has been described. With severe poisoning, erythematous and exfoliative rash, unconsciousness, respiratory depression, and renal failure."

A reassessment of boric acid/borax by the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an List of United States federal agencies of the federal government of the United States charged to Regulation of chemicals and protect human health by safeguarding the natural environment: air, water, and land....
Office of Pesticide Programs found potential developmental toxicity (especially effects on the testes). Boric acid solutions used as an eye wash or on abraded skin are known to be especially toxic to infants, especially after repeated use because of its slow elimination rate.

Chemistry

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

Water of crystallization

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[B₄O₅(OH)₄]·8H₂O, since borax contains the [B₄O₅(OH)₄]^{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 acidBoric acid

Boric acid, also called boracic acid or orthoboric acid or Acidum Boricum, is a weak acid often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, in nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds....
and other borates, which have many applications. If left exposed to dry air, it slowly loses its water of hydrationHydrate

Hydrate is a term used in inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry to indicate that a substance contains water. The chemical state of the water varies widely between hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understood....
and becomes the white and chalky mineralMineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
tincalconiteTincalconite

Tincalconite is a hydrous sodium borate mineral closely related to borax, and is a secondary mineral that forms as a dehydration product of borax....
(Na₂B₄O₇·5H₂O).

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 which is responsible for most of the green color, and which 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.

See also

Buffer solutionBuffer solution

A buffer solution is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid. It has the property that the pH of the solution changes very little when a small amount of acid or base is added to it....
Borax bead testBorax bead test

The borax bead test is a traditional part of qualitative inorganic analysis to test for the presence of certain metals.A small loop is made in the end of a platinum wire and heated in a Bunsen flame until red hot....
Sodium borohydrideSodium borohydride

Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydroborate, has the chemical formula sodiumboronhydrogen4. This white solid, usually encountered as a powder, is a specialty reducing agent used in the manufacture of Pharmacologys and other organic and inorganic compounds....
UlexiteUlexite

Ulexite is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. It was named after the German chemist Georg Ludwig Ulex who first discovered it....
Twenty-Mule-Team BoraxTwenty-Mule-Team Borax

Twenty-mule-team Borax is a brand of cleaner manufactured by the U.S. soap firm Dial Corporation....
Francis Marion SmithFrancis Marion Smith

Francis Marion Smith was an United States business magnate and civic builder in Oakland, California. Smith Mountain in Death Valley is named after him....
John VeatchJohn Veatch

John Veatch, a surgery, Surveyor , and scientist, was known for his discovery of large deposits of borax in mineral water at Tuscan Springs, California, on January 8, 1856....
Boric acidBoric acid

Boric acid, also called boracic acid or orthoboric acid or Acidum Boricum, is a weak acid often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, in nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds....
List of cleaning agents

External links

(fused borax)}