It's Elemental

Boron was discovered by Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jaques Thénard, French chemists, and independently by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, in 1808. They all isolated boron by combining boric acid (H₃BO₃) with potassium. Today, boron is obtained by heating borax (Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O) with carbon, although other methods are used if high-purity boron is required.

Boron is used in pyrotechnics and flares to produce a green color. Boron has also been used in some rockets as an ignition source. Boron-10, one of the naturally occurring isotopes of boron, is a good absorber of neutrons and is used in the control rods of nuclear reactors, as a radiation shield and as a neutron detector. Boron filaments are used in the aerospace industry because of their high-strength and lightweight.

Boron forms several commercially important compounds. The most important boron compound is sodium borate pentahydrate (Na₂B₄O₇·5H₂O). Large amounts of this compound are used in the manufacture of fiberglass insulation and sodium perborate bleach. The second most important compound is boric acid (H₃BO₃), which is used to manufacture textile fiberglass and is used in cellulose insulation as a flame retardant. Sodium borate decahydrate (Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O), better known as borax, is the third most important boron compound. Borax is used in laundry products and as a mild antiseptic. Borax is also a key ingredient in a substance known as Oobleck, a strange material 6th grade students experiment with while participating in Jefferson Lab's BEAMS program. Other boron compounds are used to make borosilicate glasses, enamels for covering steel and as a potential medicine for treating arthritis.