Question

Explain borax bead test.

Answer 1

Borax metals into a clear liquid which solidifies to a transparent glass-like bead when heated. The glass bead is commonly known as borax bead and employed in qualitative analysis for detection of $N{i}^{2+},C{r}^{3+},C_4^{2+},M{n}^{+2}$.

Whenever a coloured salt-containing these cations is heated with a borax bead on a platinum wire, it forms metaborates This test is called the borax bead test.

$CoS{O}_4\to CoO+S{O}_3$

$Co0+B_2{O}_3\to Co(B{O}_2{)}_2$