At Home
Boron at home
Apart from the boron in your environment and diet, the element B is a key ingredient in an extensive array of household products.
Borates in roofing materials, wallboard, and both fiberglass and cellulose insulation protect us from the elements. As a treatment for the wood, plastic, bricks, pipes and wires used to construct your home, borates protect from decay, fungi and insects, and in some applications, act as a flame retardant.
Inside the home, you can find borates in the ceramic tiles on the floors and walls and the porcelain enamel covering sinks, refrigerators, pots and pans. The pantry is loaded with borates in food, but you can also find them in your everyday heat-resistant cookware and the lead-free crystal you bring out for guests.
Move to the bathroom and boron abounds. Soaps, cold creams, face lotions, makeup, shaving cream, contact lens solutions, hair straighteners, eye drops and foot soaks, as well as denture cleaners and adhesives, are all made with boron compounds.
Getting dressed requires borates, too. Cotton fabrics wouldn’t exist without boron to ensure fiber yield in the field, and nylon processing depends on borates, too. Keeping those clothes clean is an array of detergents, laundry boosters and bleaches made with borates. Coffee pot cleaners and carpet cleaners are also borate-based. Even these products’ packaging has borates in the adhesive that holds them together.
When the house is clean, meals are cooked and the laundry finished, you can still find borates at work. They’re used to make a wide range of sporting equipment — from surfboards and golf clubs to snowmobiles and jet skis. The liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in digital watches, laptop computers, and flat screen televisions also contain borates.
Having a barbecue? Don’t forget the borates. They’re in the charcoal in the grill, the film in your camera and even the swimming pool as a water treatment. Borates can even help get rid of uninvited barbecue guests in the form of pest control products effective against termites, beetles, ants, cockroaches, silverfish and earwigs. In bright light, borates in your light-sensitive sunglasses protect your eyes; at night, they sparkle in fireworks.
