Boron and Chlorine - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of boron and chlorine, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Boron vs Chlorine.

boron and chlorine - comparison

Compare boron with another element

Compare chlorine with another element

Boron and Chlorine – About Elements

Boron

Significant concentrations of boron occur on the Earth in compounds known as the borate minerals. There are over 100 different borate minerals, but the most common are: borax, kernite, ulexite etc. Natural boron consists primarily of two stable isotopes, 11B (80.1%) and 10B (19.9%). In nuclear industry boron is commonly used as a neutron absorber due to the high neutron cross-section of isotope 10B. Its (n,alpha) reaction cross-section for thermal neutrons is about 3840 barns (for 0.025 eV neutron). Isotope 11B has absorption cross-section for thermal neutrons about 0.005 barns (for 0.025 eV neutron). Most of (n,alpha) reactions of thermal neutrons are 10B(n,alpha)7Li reactions accompanied by 0.48 MeV gamma emission.

Chlorine

Chlorine is a yellow-green gas at room temperature. It is an extremely reactive element and a strong oxidising agent: among the elements, it has the highest electron affinity and the third-highest electronegativity, behind only oxygen and fluorine.

Boron in Periodic Table

Chlorine in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Boron and Chlorine – Applications

Boron

Nearly all boron ore extracted from the Earth is destined for refinement into boric acid and sodium tetraborate pentahydrate. In the United States, 70% of the boron is used for the production of glass and ceramics. The major global industrial-scale use of boron compounds (about 46% of end-use) is in production of glass fiber for boron-containing insulating and structural fiberglasses, especially in Asia. Boron is added to boron steels at the level of a few parts per million to increase hardenability. Higher percentages are added to steels used in the nuclear industry due to boron’s neutron absorption ability (e.g. pellets of Boron Carbide). Boron can also increase the surface hardness of steels and alloys through boriding. Boron carbide and cubic boron nitride powders are widely used as abrasives.

Chlorine

Chlorine is used in the manufacture of a wide range of consumer products, about two-thirds of them organic chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), many intermediates for the production of plastics, and other end products which do not contain the element. As a common disinfectant, elemental chlorine and chlorine-generating compounds are used more directly in swimming pools to keep them sanitary. While perhaps best known for its role in providing clean drinking water, chlorine chemistry also helps provide energy-efficient building materials, electronics, fiber optics, solar energy cells, 93 percent of life-saving pharmaceuticals, 86 percent of crop protection compounds, medical plastics, and much more.

Boron and Chlorine – Comparison in Table

Element	Boron	Chlorine
Density	2.46 g/cm3	0.0032 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	N/A
Mohs Scale	9.5	N/A
Brinell Hardness	N/A	N/A
Vickers Hardness	49000 MPa	N/A
Melting Point	2079 °C	-101 °C
Boiling Point	3927 °C	-34.6 °C
Thermal Conductivity	27 W/mK	0.0089 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	5-7 µm/mK	N/A
Specific Heat	1.02 J/g K	0.48 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	50.2 kJ/mol	3.23 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	508 kJ/mol	10.2 kJ/mol