How much further can rocket technology advance?

[tap_sa]

<font color="yellow">"its [boron] about $10/kg"</font><br /><br />In what form and purity?

 

[mlorrey]

Okay, this is now officially a pissing contest:<br />From:<br />http://www.indexmundi.com/en/commodities/minerals/boron/boron_table%204.html<br />TABLE 4 <br />YEAREND PRICES FOR BORON MINERALS AND COMPOUNDS1 <br /> <br />(Dollars per metric ton) <br /> <br /> Price, Price, <br /> December 31, December 31, <br />Product 2003 2004 <br />Borax, technical, anhydrous, 99%, bulk, carload, works2 900-930 900-930 <br />Borax, technical, anhydrous, 99%, bags, carload, works2 846 846 <br />Borax, technical, granular, decahydrate, 99%, bags, carload, works2 378 378 <br />Borax, technical, granular, decahydrate, 99.5%, bulk, carload, works2 374 374 <br />Borax, technical, granular, pentahydrate, 99.5%, bags, carload, works2 426 426 <br />Borax, technical, granular, pentahydrate, 99.5%, bulk, carload, work2 400-425 400-425 <br />Boric acid, technical, granular, 99.9%, bags, carload, works2 836 836 <br />Boric acid, technical, granular, 99.9%, bulk, carload, works2 788 788 <br />Boric acid, United States Borax & Chemical Corp., high-purity anhydrous, 99% B2O3, 100-pound-bags, carlots2 1,996 1,996 <br />Colemanite, Turkish, 42% B2O3, ground to a minus 70-mesh, free on board (f.o.b.) railcars, Kings Creek, SC3 270-290 270-290 <br />Ulexite, Chilean, 38% B2O3, ground to a minus 6-mesh, f.o.b railcars, Norfolk, VAe 200 200 <br />eEstimated. <br />1U.S. f.o.b. plant or port prices per metric ton of product. Other conditions of final preparation, transportation, quantities, and qualities not stated <br />are subject to negotiation and/or somewhat different price quotations. Values have been rounded to the nearest dollar. <br />2Source: Chemical Market Reporter, v. 265, no. 1, January 2, 2004, p. 16; v. 267, no. 1, January 3, 2005, p. 20. <br />3Source: Industrial Minerals, no. 436, January 2004, p. 68; no. 448, January 2005, p. 72. <br /><br />Amorphou

 

[vogon13]

Who doesn't like molten boron ?<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Makes a great dip. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[rocketman5000]

A look on Google for the material properties of borocarbons brought nothing useful except it can be used as armor on Star Treck Spaceships. Do you have any links? This material sounds interesting

 

[Swampcat]

<font color="yellow">"Makes a great dip."</font><br /><br />I'd keep some Tums around though. Sounds like it would give you some serious heartburn. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Molten boron is the 'other' universal solvent. (like water)<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>