V ~ L8,. No. 11
T H E BORAX INDUSTRY
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off the water of crystallization. These products have special applications in certain industries. Manganese borate is a product used as a drier in the manufacture of drying oils, varnishes, printing and stamping inks. It can be made from borax and compounds of manganese. Some years ago there was offered on the market considerable manganese borate, which was merely a mixture of manganese salts with borax and various fillers. Due to activities of the Pacific Coast Borax Co. in producing a real compound, the trade now insists on having material in which the manganese is combined as borate. Ammonium borate finds use in hairwaving and in certain types of electrolytic rectifiers and condensers. Various other borates are known and can be produced commercially, hut have not yet come into use in industry. Borax, a Household Cleanser While Southern California has supplied the demands of manufacturing industries for borax, it has also supplied the increasing demands of the homes of the country for household packages. Surveys indicate that over two-thirds of all the homes in the country use borax for one purpose or another. It is a safe, efficient cleanser and an aid to soap in every sort of household cleaning. Its special properties are well recognized by those who have learned to use it. And boric acid is fully as important a household necessity as borax. The borax industry is still expanding and it will continue to grow with the demand for its products. It is an industry producing- materials essential to many other industries. Its future is, therefore, closely tied up with progress of the consuming industries, and in development of new outlets. References R. SPEAR, 1892. ( I ) "Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley," by JOHN ( 2 ) CHAS. R. KEYES, "Borax Deposits of the United States," Bull. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, No. 34, October, 1909. ''Borate Minerals from the Kramer District, Mojave Desert, (3) W. T. SCHALLER, California," U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 158-1 (1929).
Atoms Are Wanderers Even in Solid Metal. Atoms, even the heavy atoms of lead, are wanderers. Prof. J. G. von Hevesy, of the University of Freiburg in Breisgau, has been investigating their properties. Lead atoms are constantly in motion, even in solid metal, he believes. In an alloy of lead and gold, a t a temperature half again as high as that of boiling water, the atoms wander through a space of a hundredth of a cubic inch in a day. When there is nothing hut lead in the lump, however, moving about is not nearly so easy; in pure lead an atom can migrate in one day through a space of onlv two-ten billionths of a cubic inch.-Science Service
