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My element is Fluorine. This element was discovered in 1771 by a Swedish chemist called Karl Sheele. Karl sheele also discovered oxygen, and chlorine. In 1886 a french chemist name Henri Mossan tried to isolate fluorine. This was a task many others had tried but failed. Most of those who failed ended up with major burns, diseases, and some even lost their lives. Henri Moissan knew that platinum was one of the only substances that could resist to fluorine. He created equipment out of platinum, and lowered the temperature to -50 degrees Celsius to reduce the reactivity of fluorine. Then he put an electric current through a solution of potassium fluoride in hydrofluoric acid and accomplished what he was trying to do. He was the first man to Isolate Fluorine. In 1906, he was awarded a Nobel prize for chemistry. Shortly after he received his Nobel prize, in 1907 he died of an unknown cause.

This element belongs to the Halogen family of the periodic table. The halogen family is made of elements that are very reactive, and their atoms have 7 valence electrons. The atomic number of Fluorine is 9, and it has 9 protons, 10 neutrons, and 9 electrons.

Fluorine isn’t used much because it is too reactive for many daily products. One thing Fluorine is used for is rocket fuel. It is used to help other materials burn, in a similar way as oxygen is used to burn gasoline. Fluorine is mostly used in compounds such as fluoride, which is fluorine with a metal. Fluoride is often used in children’s toothpaste, to keep there teeth from decaying. Sometime fluoride is also put in water, for the same purpose, to keep childrens teeth from decaying. If you have old teeth that are starting to decay, and you go to the dentists they will put use fluorine to clean them up. Fluorine was also used in CFC’s. CFC’s were compounds that were often used in aerosol sprays, cleaning agents, and cooling systems. In 1930 Thomas Midgley Jr. Freon-12. This substance could easily be turned into a liquid, and was odorless, nonflammable, and nontoxic. This was mainly used in refrigerators and air conditioning systems. It was later found that these compounds were damaging to earths ozone layer, so they were replaced by less harmful ones.

Fluorine is the most electronegative, and also the most reactive of ALL the elements. Fluorine is a pale yellow, poisonous gas. That reacts with most organic and inorganic substances. Divided metals, ceramics, glass, carbon, and water burn in fluorine with a very bright flame. Elemental was never produced or needed to be be produced until world war II. When the nuclear bomb project came out, and all the nuclear energy’s were needed, fluorine was produced in high quantities.

The most surprising thing I learned about fluorine was how important this element is to us. Fluorine is needed in the nuclear field for the preparation of UF6. I had never herd of fluorine before, but I learned how important it is. This is one of the most important elements. We use a lot of nuclear technology for energy as well as for weapons. Without fluorine a big part would be missing. I have learned how important elemental fluorine is, and that we need it for many compounds. This has been used a lot in the past century, and I believe it will be used for a lot longer, because it provides some things we really need, wether for important uses such as the nuclear field, or in daily uses such as dental care.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TGD-4MFJ2JM-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7895e327712a39592bec2886371e9b40

http://www.tutorvista.com/content/chemistry/chemistry-iv/p-block-elements/halogen-family.php

searched Fluorine on aol.

www.webelements.com/fluorine/

web.fccj.org/~ethall/ fluor/fluor.htm

minerauxfossiles.waika9.com/ corbquartzfluor.htm

http://mooni.fccj.org/~ethall/fluor/fluor.htm

http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/9.htm