What is fluorine used for

During this time large quantities began to be made for use in the nuclear bomb project and other nuclear energy productions. Fluorine is used to refine uranium, which is used in nuclear reactors. Chlorine is a component of chlorofluorocarbons. Chlorofluorocarbons were used as refrigerants in air conditioning units and freezers until they were banned because of their contribution to ozone depletion.

Even small splashes of this acid on skin can be fatal, according to Chemicool. Several scientists were injured, blinded or killed in some of the experiments. In the early 19th century, scientists Andre-Marie Ampere, in France, and Humphry Davy, in England, corresponded about the possibility of a new element within the acid.

In , Davy announced the discovery of the new element and named it fluorine from Ampere's suggestion. Henri Moissan, a French chemist, finally isolated fluorine in — after being poisoned several times in his pursuit. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in for the isolating fluorine by electrolysis of dry potassium hydrogen fluoride KHF 2 and dry hydrofluoric acid.

For many years, fluorine salts, or fluorides, have been used in welding and for frosting glass, according to the Royal Society. For example, hydrofluoric acid is used to etch the glass of light bulbs. Fluorine is a vital element in the nuclear energy industry, according to the Royal Society. It is used to make uranium hexafluoride, which is needed to separate uranium isotopes.

Sulfur hexafluoride is a gas used to insulate high-power electricity transformers. Chlorofluorocarbons CFCs were once used in aerosols, refrigerators, air conditioners, foam food packaging, and fire extinguishers. Values are given for typical oxidation number and coordination. Electron affinity The energy released when an electron is added to the neutral atom and a negative ion is formed. Electronegativity Pauling scale The tendency of an atom to attract electrons towards itself, expressed on a relative scale.

First ionisation energy The minimum energy required to remove an electron from a neutral atom in its ground state. The oxidation state of an atom is a measure of the degree of oxidation of an atom. It is defined as being the charge that an atom would have if all bonds were ionic. Uncombined elements have an oxidation state of 0. The sum of the oxidation states within a compound or ion must equal the overall charge. Data for this section been provided by the British Geological Survey.

An integrated supply risk index from 1 very low risk to 10 very high risk. This is calculated by combining the scores for crustal abundance, reserve distribution, production concentration, substitutability, recycling rate and political stability scores. The percentage of a commodity which is recycled. A higher recycling rate may reduce risk to supply. The availability of suitable substitutes for a given commodity. The percentage of an element produced in the top producing country.

The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply. The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves. A percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. A percentile rank for the political stability of the country with the largest reserves, derived from World Bank governance indicators.

Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of a kilogram of a substance by 1 K. A measure of the stiffness of a substance. It provides a measure of how difficult it is to extend a material, with a value given by the ratio of tensile strength to tensile strain.

A measure of how difficult it is to deform a material. It is given by the ratio of the shear stress to the shear strain.

A measure of how difficult it is to compress a substance. It is given by the ratio of the pressure on a body to the fractional decrease in volume. A measure of the propensity of a substance to evaporate. It is defined as the equilibrium pressure exerted by the gas produced above a substance in a closed system. This Site has been carefully prepared for your visit, and we ask you to honour and agree to the following terms and conditions when using this Site.

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Jump to main content. Periodic Table. Glossary Allotropes Some elements exist in several different structural forms, called allotropes. Glossary Group A vertical column in the periodic table. Fact box. Glossary Image explanation Murray Robertson is the artist behind the images which make up Visual Elements.

Appearance The description of the element in its natural form. Biological role The role of the element in humans, animals and plants. Natural abundance Where the element is most commonly found in nature, and how it is sourced commercially.

Uses and properties. Image explanation. The image reflects the highly reactive nature of the element. A very pale yellow-green, dangerously reactive gas.

It is the most reactive of all the elements and quickly attacks all metals. Steel wool bursts into flames when exposed to fluorine. There was no commercial production of fluorine until the Second World War, when the development of the atom bomb, and other nuclear energy projects, made it necessary to produce large quantities. Before this, fluorine salts, known as fluorides, were for a long time used in welding and for frosting glass. The element is used to make uranium hexafluoride, needed by the nuclear power industry to separate uranium isotopes.

It is also used to make sulfur hexafluoride, the insulating gas for high-power electricity transformers. In fact, fluorine is used in many fluorochemicals, including solvents and high-temperature plastics, such as Teflon poly tetrafluoroethene , PTFE.

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