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Essay about Boron: The Best Choice in Alternative Fuel

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Boron: The Best Choice in Alternative Fuel

With the way the environment is looking these days it seems that it may be a good idea to raise the price of gasoline by one dollar. With growing concerns about pollution and other toxins in the atmosphere, the industry is forced to look into alternate forms of fuel. This extra tax on gasoline could aid in funding their research. Currently research is being performed on the element boron. It has been found to be more efficient and a generally safer fuel than gasoline.

In the past scientists have been looking into solar and electrically powered vehicles to aid in the reduction of pollutants. Only recently has boron been introduced as another feasible alternative fuel.…show more content…
The reaction of boron in air depends upon the crystalline of the sample, temperature, particle size, and purity. Boron does not react with air at room temperature, in fact; it doesn’t react at all (Winter 1). A pound of boron could not be ignited with a blowtorch, at least not in our atmosphere. It takes pure oxygen in order for boron to burn. A problem with petroleum powered vehicles is that when the vehicle crashes, there is a large chance that the gas tank will catch fire and explode. In the case of boron, this would never happen because of boron's inability to react with the earth's air.

Another extremely beneficial advantage to using boron as an alternate form of fuel is that it is recyclable. Boron is produced in circular lumps that somewhat resemble discs. Boron cars would have one of these discs to start out with, but it wouldn't just be burned once and release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. It would go back to a nuclear power plant to get regenerated. The decomposition of boron is a thermal process, so the heating of the discs would regenerate it and the boron could be reused (Cowan 1-2). At engine temperature which is approximately 212 degrees Fahrenheit, boron is somewhat viscous, not a solid, so it would transport fairly easily. Below two hundred degrees it then becomes a solid for easy disposal or regeneration.

As it was stated above, the ideal atmosphere for
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