Sodium tetraborate (borax solution in glycerin) 20% 30g, MFF

What is sodium tetraborate used for?

Borax is an antiseptic with bacteriostatic activity. In small quantities it is included in household detergents. Builders use it to destroy and prevent mold, and gardeners need sodium tetraborate to control pests.

Borax with glycerin is widely used for rinsing and douching in the treatment of many diseases: stomatitis, upper respiratory tract diseases, thrush, candidiasis. It is used as an external remedy for bedsores, diaper rash, and cracks. The drug is absorbed through the skin or mucous membrane and enters the digestive tract. It is eliminated from the body within a week through the intestines and kidneys. This medicine has contraindications. Due to increased toxicity, it can be harmful, so it is not used for children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and people with hypersensitivity and a tendency to allergies.

Sodium tetraborate is included in many slime recipes as a thickener. It is he who, by changing the properties of other components, gives the “chewing gum for hands” ductility and elasticity. But it is not recommended to give such slimes to children under 3 years of age, because they may be tempted to try chewing gum on their teeth.

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Is there borax in store-bought slime?

Slime was first produced by the American company Mattel in 1976. They included two components:

• food additive E412, or guar gum;
• food additive E285, or borax.

The jelly-like toy attracted attention due to the properties of a non-Newtonian fluid. The elastic material easily changes shape, but does not spill. In the absence of external influence, it spreads over the surface, and with sharp compression or impact it becomes compacted.

The chemical composition of modern slimes has remained almost unchanged. To make toys, most manufacturers use:

• Polyvinyl acetate (PVA). In its liquid state it has a pungent odor, indicating the presence of volatile chemicals. Manufacturers mask the smell with synthetic fragrances. But when water gets on the toy, the characteristic smell of glue appears again.
• Borax. The activator ensures that the slime is sufficiently soft when pressed and elastic when impacted.

Most slimes contain additional components - cellulose, gelatin, corn starch. Organic compounds provide a favorable environment for the proliferation of fungi. Therefore, after 1-2 weeks, the toy becomes a breeding ground for germs.

Sodium tetraborate is one of the basic components of homemade and store-bought slimes, which gives them elasticity and firmness. The inorganic compound belongs to the group of substances with low toxicity, but upon contact with mucous membranes it often causes allergic reactions - swelling, redness. To avoid unwanted consequences, you need to take precautions when playing with slime.

Instructions for use

To use sodium tetraborate for medical purposes, you must carefully study the instructions that come with each dosage form and follow the advice of your doctor. When using glycerin-based borax, doctors usually advise diluting it with water or chamomile infusion.

When making slimes, a borax solution (activator) is always added at the last stage, when all other components have already been mixed. Add it gradually, 1 drop at a time, stirring thoroughly each time. To thicken the slime, only a few drops of solution are required, but an overdose can lead to structural damage, loss of elasticity, and this process is irreversible.

Receipt

The substance is obtained by recrystallization of natural borax or kernite (tetrahydrate); interaction of boric acid with sodium carbonate; interaction of natural borates with sodium carbonate and bicarbonate when heated. [5]

Borax (sodium tetraborate) is the sodium salt of boric acid with the formula Na2B4O7. This compound has found wide application, forming variants of crystalline hydrates (crystalline type structure).

In the Asian region the substance is called "tinkal". It is believed that the ingredient got its name from the Persian word for "brown", which was used to name potassium nitrate and other fluxes containing water.

In Ancient Egypt, borax was used to preserve Mummies. Additionally, borax is used to make the glaze of pottery in China, and as a cleaning agent in several places in the Middle East and China.

The substance gained widespread use in the Middle Ages in Europe as a flux for soldering and cleaning the surfaces of metal workpieces. The nature of the origin of the substance has been a long mystery for chemists. Traces of the powder's history were eventually traced to Tibet, almost the only source that was known before the discovery (1776) and application (1820) of boric acid from Italian sources. Italy became the main source of borax until the 1860s, when the desert regions of Chile also began to supply borax for widespread use.

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A key figure in the discovery of the ingredient in North America was John A. Veatch, who found it in California in 1856, first in the spring at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley (Tehama County). Over the next decade, borax deposits were found in more exploitable locations in Nevada and Southern California.

American manufacturers mastered the process of using borax by the mid-1880s and supplied the product to domestic and international markets. The price fell to a level that caused the majority to refuse to use the production of such a product. Stephen Mather, to promote the substance in 1896, published a brochure: “Recipes for the Use of Borax.” This successful advertising campaign greatly expanded the demand for borax, which became relatively inexpensive, especially in laundry detergents and glass and ceramic glazes.

Is sodium tetraborate dangerous for children?

Borax is not harmless; it is highly toxic. The human body copes with small amounts that enter the gastrointestinal tract through the skin and mucous membranes. But if you drink even 10 g of sodium tetraborate, it can be fatal.

Contact of sodium tetraborate on the skin or inhalation can cause problems. Therefore, handling salt should be done with rubber or latex gloves in a room with good ventilation. If the salt is in the form of a fine powder, then it is advisable to protect the respiratory tract with a medical or construction mask so that the suspension does not accidentally get on the mucous membrane.

At the end of the work, the surface where the salt was located should be thoroughly rinsed.

Medicines containing salt are intended for external use only. A slight overdose of the drug can cause abdominal pain, headache, vomiting and weakness. In this case, you should immediately perform gastric lavage and consult a doctor. Severe drug poisoning is life-threatening; it is accompanied by convulsions, loss of consciousness, liver and kidney damage, and cardiovascular failure.

Type of substance

Borax, or borax as it is also called, is a preservative. Preservatives are used in the food industry to increase the shelf life of a product. All chemical compounds belonging to this type of substance have one thing in common - they have powerful antibacterial properties. It is due to this that products to which preservatives are added do not spoil for a long time.

Despite its beneficial properties, the preservative E285 is very toxic and dangerous for the human body. Therefore, in Russia it is not used in the food industry.

How to make sodium tetraborate at home

To use sodium tetraborate, it is not necessary to purchase it. And you don’t need to be a chemist to get it yourself from available materials using ready-made recipes. Naturally, the obtained substances should under no circumstances be used for medical purposes; only special pharmacological forms should be taken for treatment.

With boric acid

1. Pour the contents of 1 bottle of boric acid alcohol solution into a bowl and, gradually adding baking soda there, stir until completely dissolved. When the soda stops dissolving, filter out its remaining residue by passing the liquid through a dry paper napkin folded several times.
2. Mix equal amounts of boric acid crystals and table salt in a metal bowl and place on low heat. During the heating process, white smoke will be released from the mixture - this is a volatile compound of hydrogen with chlorine, resulting from a substitution reaction. When the evolution of hydrogen chloride stops, remove the dish from the heat, mix thoroughly and heat again. The process is considered complete when no smoke appears during the next heating.
3. Pour 1 glass of water into a bowl, add 5 g of boric acid and 1 teaspoon of grated laundry soap. Move and heat the solution in a microwave oven or in a steam bath. Once cooled, you can strain it through a paper filter.

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Without boric acid

As a slime activator, sodium tetraborate is used in the form of solutions that can be easily prepared at home. To do this, you will need borax powder purchased at a hardware store.

1. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of borax in 1 glass of water.
2. Dissolve 20 g of borax in 80 g of glycerin.

That's it, the thickener is ready.

Soldering using borax

Sodium tetraborate is widely used as a flux used in the soldering and forging process of various metals.

Borax itself is useless, but under the influence of high temperatures it turns into boron oxide, which has excellent antioxidant properties. Borax is also capable of:

• fill small cracks in the metal;
• increase wear resistance and durability of the processed part;
• help change the shape of a part during artistic metal forging.

During soldering using flux, oxides are instantly removed from the metal surface, and other substances are dissolved in it. During forging, a layer of scale constantly forms on the surface of the metal. If forging is uncontrolled, it may overheat, which will ruin the product. The use of flux allows you to avoid this.

The process of treating a forged part with flux, which prevents the formation of glow on the product Source Popgun.ru

How is soldering done?

Flux is most often used when soldering using solder - a filler metal that has a relatively low melting point. To work with all common metals: steel, copper, cast iron, etc., a flux is made based on boric acid with a 1:1 ratio. The mixture is thoroughly mixed and then the water is evaporated to obtain a white, dry powder. The use of such flux has a number of advantages:

• materials can be soldered within a wide range of soldering temperature conditions;
• it becomes possible to combine metal with non-metallic materials;
• during operation, the main materials do not melt, but only flux and solder;
• the strength and mechanical properties of the parts being soldered are improved.

Flux based on borax is sold in convenient sealed packages made of special plastic that does not allow water vapor to pass through. Source Bytlux.ru

How to replace sodium tetraborate for slime?

There are no complete analogues of Borax. But there are substances that are similar in action.

You can get rid of mold using copper sulfate or soda. Soda will help in the fight against cockroaches.

Furacilin is suitable as an antiseptic for the treatment of stomatitis and the upper respiratory tract.

But replacing sodium tetraborate to thicken slimes is much easier.

• Substitutes can be found at a hardware store (soda ash, Persil laundry detergent, Fairy dishwashing detergent, Air wick air freshener).
• At the pharmacy (alcohol solution of boric acid, Teymurov foot spray, Vizin eye drops, lens cleaner).
• And even in the kitchen you can make an activator from baking soda, table salt, gelatin, and starch.

Of course, these thickeners are not as reliable as Borax, and more quantities are required, but they can also replace the usual activator if necessary.

Substance names

This sneaky food additive goes by many names.
Here's the full list:

• Borax,
• Borax,
• sodium teraborate,
• Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate,
• Sodium tetraborate 10-water,
• Sodium borate pyro 10-water,
• Methylpropionic acid E-285,
• E285,
• Sodium Tetraborate
• Borax.

Sodium tetraborate price and where to buy it

In the pharmacy, sodium tetraborate is sold without a prescription in the form of a glycerin solution, packaged in dark glass bottles of 30 and 50 ml. The shelf life of the drug is 2 years, the cost varies from 15 to 80 rubles .

Borax powder is sold in hardware and construction departments and in gardening stores in a variety of packages from 20 g to 50 kg. The cost of packaging depends on the manufacturer, weight and degree of purification and varies from 75 rubles/kg to 170 rubles/kg .

Properties

Features of the soldering process

There are various soldering options. Many of them have a similar operating algorithm.

Submerged Soldering

For a quality connection, the following steps are necessary:

1. The solder must be applied to a clean surface that acts as a base. It is necessary to remove any oils, paints, waxes and other impurities using a solvent, steel brush, or fine sandpaper.
2. In order for the solder to connect to the tip of the soldering iron, heat it up for a few seconds, and only then apply the solder. Hold the soldering iron like a handle, near the base of the tool.
3. Both parts of the workpiece that will be soldered must be hot to form a good bond.
4. The tip of the soldering iron heats both sides of the workpieces.
5. The solder will not flow well on the heated base metal. Enough solder should be used to form a strong connection.
6. Remove the tip from the joint area as soon as the solder begins to flow.
7. Do not move the solder joint while the solder is cooling. Do not overheat the connection as this may cause damage. Transistors and some other components may be damaged due to the heat of soldering. The alligator clip can be used as a heat sink to protect these components. By absorbing heat, the alligator clip reduces heat, helping prevent damage.
8. Soldering a connection can only take a few seconds, and even an amateur can perform the operation. If the seam looks bad, reheat it and try again. Bad bonds (also called dry bonds) must be melted and remade. Wipe the tip of the soldering iron to clean it. Unplug the soldering iron when not in use.

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