Boron Group

Boric Acid

H3BO3

Aluminun Sulfate

Al2(SO4)3

Boron family elements are always in compounds in nature, never free. Most of the time, they oxidize and prevent further reactions. Aluminum and Boron can still form various acids, sulphates, flourides, and many other compounds.

3. Boron Family elements all have conductivity. Boron is a semi-metal so it has special traits of electricity insulation and heat conductivity. At high temperatures, Boron conducts electricity well also. The rest of the elements in the group are conductive under normal circumstances, and they can also be alloyed to attain semi-conductive attributes like Boron.

Aluminum oxide is in gems like ruby and sapphire, as well as minerals like corundum.

A 24% Indium and 76% Gallium alloy is liquid at room temperature(melts at 16°C).

Three Interesting facts about the Boron family elements:

Gallium has such a low melting point that it will melt in your hand.

Gallium:

-Gallium Arsenide Blue LED's

-detecting solar neutrinos(particles from the sun's nuclear fusion)

-Doped to other elements to make semiconductors for transistors used to change or amplify electric signals.

-used in solder metals for a faster melting metal

4. Indium is normally found with zinc but can also be found in iron, copper, and lead ores. It is pretty rare in the crust.

Uses of the Boron Group elements:

Hutchinsonite

5. Thallium occurs largely in crooksite, lorandite, hutchinsonite, and pyrite(fool’s gold) minerals, and in small amounts in the flue dust(when refining) of lead, manganese, zinc and other elements. Thallium is uncommon but not rare.

6. Ununtrium is a synthetic element. It was first made in 2004, by fusing four pairs of Americium and Calcium. The longest lasting of the resulting four Uut atoms lasted ~2.8 seconds.

Thallium:

-infrared detector

-Thallium Sulfide's conductivity is sensitive to heat

-can make a low melting temperature glass when it is compounded with selenium and arsenic or sulfur

-used for rodent and ant-killers (Thallium is odorless and tasteless)

(Ununtrium has no known uses)

Sphalerite

3. Gallium mainly comes as a side product when aluminum is being refined from bauxite. Gallium occurs in trace amounts in the minerals diaspore, germanite, and sphalerite, as well as coal.

Indium:

-transistors

-thermistors(resistors that change resistence in effect with temperature)

-rectifiers(AC to DC current converters)

-solar cells

-mirrors more resistant to weather corrosion

Bauxite ore

2. Aluminum is in mainly in the ore bauxite. It also occurs in minerals like granite. Aluminum is very abundant in the Earth's crust.

Aluminum:

-Lightweight aircraft and automobile parts

-foils, cans, silverware

-high reflectivity mirrors that naturally oxidize and protect their surface.

These mirrors are

used in telelscopes.

And they may be

referred to as triels or

poor metals...

This is the Boron Family or Family 13. This family includes Boron, Aluminum, Gallium, Indium, Thallium, and Ununtrium (Not included in the picture.)

Where elements are found.

1. Boron is found in ores of kernite (AKA rasorite)minerals, and must be isolated chemically because it is always in a compound. It is near the middle of the list for crustal abundance

Boron Family Facts:

All Boron group elements

have three valence electrons.

Works Cited

Blackwell, Mary. "15 Beyer - Chemistry of Boron (Aluminum) Family." 15

Beyer - Chemistry of Boron (Aluminum) Family. Ed. Jessica Beyer. N.p., 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. <http://wikis.lawrence.edu/display/CHEM/15 Beyer - Chemistry of Boron (Aluminum) Family>.

"Boron Group." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Jan. 2013. Web. 21

Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boron_group>.

Lee, Stephanie, Constantine La, and Zoe Lim. "Group 13: The Boron

Family." Chemwiki.ucdavis.edu. University of California, Davis, 2010. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. <http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Elements/Group_13%3A_The_Boron_Family>.

Newton, David E., and Lawrence W. Baker. "Thallium." Chemical Elements:

From Carbon to Krypton. Vol. 3. Detroit: U·X·L, 1999. 591-95. Print.

Winter, Mark J. "Home of the Periodic Table." Periodic Table of the

Elements by WebElements. WebElements Ltd, UK, 1993. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. <http://www.webelements.com/>.

Boron Group

By Alex and Byron

Properties of Boron Family:

1. All of the elements in this family are relatively soft compared to other solids and metals. The best example is Gallium, having a melting point of 29.8°C, making it extremely soft.

The elements in this group are all solids at room temperature. They are also all metals except Boron itself, which is a metaloid/semi-metal.

Reactivity of Boron group:

This family has a high ionization energy which means that it takes a lot of energy to move electrons around. In theory, it should thus be hard for this group to react, but the Boron group elements are still very reactive.