Borax Powder for Chemistry Dummies

Borax crystals

We've noticed as we check our DotD awards for dead links that the people at Leaf Group have assembled a "cleanup team" to rewrite some of the more obviously useless content in their niches. So far, most of the updates we've found have been posted at Sciencing.com. For some reason, though, Leaf is using J-school grads to apply a little shine to articles written by other J-school grads... like the buff-up Rachelle Dragani performed in the Sciencing post, "How to Make Borax Powder."

The first time around, eHowian Brenda Priddy (proud owner of an AA in English) advised folks to buy some boric acid crystals and grind them down to a fine powder in a grinder "specially purchased" for the task. That's after "informing" her readers that "Borax is a powdered form of boric acid crystals, which come from the element boron." Well sure Leaf wanted something that loopy rewritten, so Dragani sharpened her editing pencil:

"Borax powder is a multipurpose item that can be used in all kinds of ways from making slime for the kids to doing your laundry. Products made with borax powder are available at retailers, but it’s easy to make your own borax powder and products that are free of some of the chemicals that might be present in commercial borax items." Well, at least she got rid of the bit about "come[s] from... boron." We aren't certain what "chemicals... might be present in commercial borax items" or even what a borax "item" might be, but what the heck. Let's see what Rachelle says to do. "...[purchase] boric acid crystals at your local hardware store or an online retailer." "Using a grinder that you never use for food, pulverize the crystals until a fine powdery substance forms." Dragani then goes on to rain praise on the usefulness of borax for such tasks as a laundry additive and making slime. After that, Rachelle pounds out another 150 words on safety...

...All of which would be great if Dragani hadn't made a serious mistake in her Step 1 above. Rachelle's mistake? she didn't take chemistry while getting that liberal arts degree: boric acid (H₃BO₃) is not the same thing as Borax. Dragani even said somewhere in there that borax is also known as "sodium borate [and sodium] tetraborate": that compound is a naturally occurring mineral with the formula Na₂[B₄O₅(OH)₄]·8H₂O. We still wonder what "chemicals" might be be introduced to borax during the dehydration and grinding processes...

Maybe Rachelle doesn't understand that a hydrous mineral containing sodium isn't the same thing as boric acid, but we do... That's why we're granting her another Dumbass of the Day award, rewrite division.

copyright © 2018-2022 scmrak

SI - CHEMISTRY