Boron

: This article is about the chemical element. See Boron, Territoire de Belfort for the commune of the Territoire de Belfort département in France. See Robert de Boron for the medieval poet.

Isotopes

Boron has two naturally-occurring and stable isotopes, 11B (80.1%) and 10B (19.9%). The mass difference results in a wide range of δB-11 values in natural waters, ranging from -16 to +59. There are 13 known isotopes of boron, the shortest-lived isotope is 7B which decays through proton emission and alpha decay. It has a half-life of 3.26500x10-22 s. Isotopic fractionation of boron is controlled by the exchange reactions of the boron species B(OH)3 and B(OH)4. Boron isotopes are also fractionated during mineral crystallization, during H2O phase changes in hydrothermal systems, and during hydrothermal alteration of rock. The latter effect species preferential removal of the 10B(OH)4 ion onto clays results in solutions enriched in 11B(OH)3 may be responsible for the large 11B enrichment in seawater relative to both oceanic crust and continental crust.

Related Topics:
Isotope - Proton emission - Alpha decay - Half-life - S - O - H - Mineral crystallization - Hydrothermal - Rock - Ion - Ocean - Continent

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Depleted boron

The Boron-10 isotope is good at capturing thermal neutrons from cosmic radiation or in PWRs (Pressurized Water Reactor, a type of nuclear power reactor). It then undergoes fission - producing a gamma ray, an alpha particle, and a lithium ion. When this happens inside of an integrated circuit, the fission products may then dump charge into nearby chip structures, causing data loss (bit flipping, or single event upset). In critical semiconductor designs, depleted boron - consisting almost entirely of Boron-11 - is used, to avoid this effect, as one of radiation hardening measures. Boron-11 is a by-product of the nuclear industry.

Related Topics:
Thermal neutron - Cosmic radiation - PWR - Fission - Gamma ray - Alpha particle - Lithium - Integrated circuit - Single event upset - Semiconductor - Radiation hardening - Nuclear industry

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