Question

What happens when Borax is heated strongly?

Answer 1

Chemical reaction

• A chemical reaction is a process by which one chemical substance changes into another chemical substance.
• For example, iron rusts, coal burns, candles burn, papers burn, milk sets into cottage cheese or ghee, food digests, etc.
• A chemical change occurs during a chemical reaction because a product substance is formed that has entirely different characteristics from the original substance.

Borax is heated strongly

• Borax is a solid that is amorphous and white in appearance.
• Sodium tetraborate decahydrate is another name for borax.
• The chemical formula is ${\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{B}}_4{\mathrm{O}}_7·10{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$.
• Borax changes through a number of transitions when heated. It initially swells after losing water molecules.
• It then changes into a clear liquid and then solidifies to form a substance known as "borax bead."

Balanced chemical reaction

• The reaction is as follows:

$\begin{array}{rcl}& & \underset{\left(\mathrm{Borax}\right)}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{B}}_4{\mathrm{O}}_7·10{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}\underset{-10{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}{\overset{∆}{\to }}{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{B}}_4{\mathrm{O}}_7\stackrel{∆}{\to }\underset{(\mathrm{Boric}\mathrm{oxide})}{{\mathrm{B}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3}+\underset{(\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{metaborate})}{2{\mathrm{NaBO}}_2}\end{array}$

• It is composed of boric oxide $\left({\mathrm{B}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3\right)$ and sodium meta borate $\left({\mathrm{NaBO}}_2\right)$.