La Vonne Steer, Age 11, Of Provo, Utah, for his question;

Wrat exactly is borax?

There is borax in the chemical mixture used to soften hard water, and a trace of borax was used to make the glossy finish of the laundry tub. Its many chores range from testing minerals to food preserving. Its history tells of ancient lakes, of the high Himalayas and the low lying desert of death valley.

Borax is a pale, crusty mineral with a glossy sparkle. Most of it is found strewn on the ground in some desert dry region that was once a salty lake or inland sea. As the water evaporated into the dry air its dissolved chemicals were left behind, and some of them formed the compound known as borax or sodium borate.

A chemical compound is made from molecules, and its molecules are made from assorted atoms. The borax molecule is a package of atoms of sodium, boron and oxygen, and, for each of these molecules there are 10 molecules of water. Other forms of sodium borate contain fewer molecules of water. Borax is a compound of boron, but it was known and used long before this non metallic element was discovered. The name of the element boron was compiled from borax and from carbon, its close relative on the periodic table of chemical elements.

The craftsmen of Europe used borax to make hard, shiny glassware and bright glazes for their pottery. For ages the supplies were toted all the way from the dry bed of an ancient lake high on the arid slopes of Tibet. Later, crusty lumps of glittering borax were found on the arid wastes of Death Valley, and the sturdy 20 mule teams used to haul it away added a colorful picture to the old west.

Plentiful supplies of sodium borate soon were found in several parts of southern California, and today it does a host of jobs in the home, in science and industry. It does kitchen duties in water softeners, soaps and cleansers. It helps to make paper and textiles, to tan leathers and preserve foods. To glasses, g1azes and ename1s it adds strength, heat resistance and glossy brilliance. And borax yields the boric acid used to make soothing eye lotions and ointments. In science, borax is used to tell what metals happen to be present in a rocky mineral.

The borax bead test is for serious rock hounds. A pinch of borax on a wire is heated in a flame. It becomes a glassy bead and acts as a flux that changes color on contact with metals. The hot bead is dipped in a sample of powdered rock, reheated and cooled with first an oxidizing flame, then a reducing flame. If copper is present, the four tests change the borax bead to green, then blue, then colorless and finally brown. Tungsten shows yellow, colorless, yellow and brown.