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Aaron Weinberger

Is boron a cation or an anion?

Bill Bigos  Follow

Borates are the name for a large number of boron-oxygen compounds usually containing oxyanions. The term "borates" may also refer to tetrahedral boron anions.

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Andrew Constable  Follow

Some elements may act as either cation or anion, depending on the electronegativity of the other element they bond to.

In the borate anion, boron acts as a cation because oxygen is more electronegative than boron. In a boride, where boron bonds with a less electronegative element (e.d. silicon boride SiB3, and SiB6), boron acts as an anion.

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Ben Jones  Follow

As written, boron is a NEUTRAL atom, with 5 defining nuclear charges, and 5 corresponding electronic charges.

And how does I knows this? Well, I have access to a Periodic Table, and this tells me [math]Z_ext{the atomic number }[/math] precisely.

And the electronic configuration for atomic boron [math]1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{1}[/math]. Should the number electrons equal the atomic number in the NEUTRAL atom? Why so?

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