Name: derived from the Latin word "fleure," meaning to flow.
Discovery: Fluorine was first prepared in 1886 by Henri Moissan after seventy-four years of effort by investigators including Davy, Gay-Lussac, Lavoisier, and Thenard.
Description: It is a greenish pale yellow acidic gas and has a strong odor. Fluorine is the most reactive of the non-metals, and therefore will combine with most other elements.
Source: Fluorine never occurs as a free element in nature. It most commonly occurs in the minerals cryolite, fluorspar, and fluorapatite. 0.06% of the Earth’s crust is fluorine, which makes fluorine the 13th most common element in the crust.
Uses: As an element, fluorine is used in rocket fuels and helps other materials burn. It was formally used in the production of CFC’s until it was found that compounds in CFC’s were damaging the Earth’s ozone layer. A safer compounded was substituted. Most fluorine is used in fluorine compounds. The element is used to make uranium hexafluoride, which is needed by the nuclear power industry. Fluoride is in toothpaste. It has been shown to reduce tooth decay. In a process called fluoridation, fluoride is added to a water supply to help prevent tooth decay. This is mostly beneficial to young children because their teeth are still developing. The average human body contain about a hundredth of an ounce of fluorine.
Biological Role: The element fluorine is highly toxic. Too much of the fluoride ion can also be toxic.
Atomic Number: 9
Atomic Symbol: F
Atomic Mass:
Melting Point: -219.62 °C
Boiling Point: -188.14 °C
Number of Neutrons: 10
Crystal Structure: Cubic
Density @ 293 K: 1.696 g/cm³
