About the Boron Zone

| Image: Wikimedia

Pieces of boron | Image: Wikimedia

Boron (pronounced bor-on) is the 5th element on the periodic table, and was discovered by a chemist called Humphry Davy in 1808.

Boron has lots of uses; it can be used to make really strong fibers which are used in everything from golf clubs and fishing rods, as well as building things to go into space. It is also used to make heat-resistant glass used in kitchens and laboratories. Boron has also been used as a cleaning material, as a pesticide for getting rid of cockroaches, fleas, and ants, and in very, very strong magnets.

The Boron Zone is a General Science Zone, where we will meet five scientists from five different areas of science.

In this zone there is one scientist trying to find out how young children learn about numbers, while there is another one catching, collecting, counting and dissecting fish, crabs, worms, and other crawly creatures, to study food webs. Then there is another scientist researching enormous explosions in the Sun’s atmosphere and looking at how they effect the Earth.

There is a scientist looking at bacteria inside the human body, and how they affect things like weight, allergies, and your mood, and there is another scientist researching dust inside people’s homes.