Fluorine

Fluorine Uses Fluorine has a wide variety of different uses. Everybody knows Fluoride as sodium-fluoride, which is a key ingredient in toothpaste and other tooth care devices. However, its uses also include being a key ingredient in Uranium hexafluoride. Fluorochlorohydrocarbons are used in air conditioning and refrigeration. Fluorine has even been studied as a rocket propellant. It’s got something for everyone!

A solid of Fluorine... For now! History

It was not “discovered” until the early 1500’s by Georgius Agricola, who used it as a flux, meaning it promotes the fusion of metals in a furnace. In the early 1700’s, it was used to etch glass by a scientist named Schwandhard as it can burn through glass. It was not isolated until the late 1800’s by Henri Moissan, because it reacts with almost all elements. It was not isolated until the late 1800’s by Henri Moissan, because it reacts with almost all elements and compounds. Previous attempts to isolate it led to several people being blinded and even killed, because the explosions caused by chemical reactions harmed the scientists. These scientists became known as the “Fluorine Martyr, because they died or suffered for the sake of science.

The atomic mass, or weight of the atom, is 19, making it the 9th lightest element. The atomic number is 9, because it has 9 protons, positively charged particles inside the nucleus, and 9 electons, negatively charged particles outside the nucleus. It also has 10 neutrons, neutrally charged particles also inside the nucleus. The atomic mass is 19, because protons weigh one A.M.U. and neutrons weigh one A.M.U. Ten neutrons plus nine protons equals 19. (A.M.U is Atomic Mass Units.) Electrons don’t affect it because they weigh virtually nothing. Fluorine has 2 electrons on its first shell and 7 on its second shell. I will explain this in the next paragraph.

The way you draw an atom is a method called the Bohr model of an atom. The way it works is you draw a circle, called the nucleus, in the center. This is where the protons and neutrons are situated. So where do the electrons go? They are outside the nucleus, so you draw little circles, called shells, outside the nucleus and put the electrons there. But you can’t just put all the electrons on the first ring. There is a limit to how many electrons you can put on each shell, in no apparent order. The order is 2, then 8, then 8 again, then 18, then 18 again, then 32, so on so forth. Chemical Characteristics are how and why an element reacts with other element. This is because on a shell, all elements want to be happy, or stable. So what does stable mean? Stable means that on the outermost shell of electrons, the capacity for electrons is full. So, if an element had 2 electrons on its first shell and only 5 on its second shell, it would not be stable. (Which would be nitrogen.) However, if it had 2 electrons on its first shell, and 8 on its second, which is neon, it would be stable, because its shells are full. If an element has one extra or needs one extra electron, it will share an electron with a different element. This process is called chemical bonding. What determines how stable an element is is how many electrons it needs. If an element needs 4 electrons, it will be more stable than an element that needs one electron, because only elements with four extra electrons will bond with it. Fluorine, however, has only 7 electrons on its second shell. Therefore, it only needs one electron to make it stable. That makes fluorine the most unstable element, so it reacts with almost all other elements.

Fluorine is pale yellow, and is naturally a gas. It has a very pungent odor, detectable at a mere 20 ppb, or 20 molecules of fluorine for every billion other molecules. It is naturally very poisonous, and has never been tasted, because it would violently explode and harm the consumer. It has a melting point of -360ºF or 53.53 Kelvin. Here is a Poster I made for my element. Also, here is a Web I made using Inspiration. Bibliography! "Fluorine | Essential Information." //WebElements Periodic Table of the Elements//. Web. 08 June 2010. . "Fluorine." //Dynamic Periodic Table//. Web. 08 June 2010. . "Fluorine." //Fluorine//. Web. 08 June 2010. . Hasan, Heather. "Fluorine." //Fluorine//. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2007. Print. upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/8/84/F...