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Isolation Of Fluorine Lab Report

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The first successful isolation of fluorine was achieved by a French chemist named Henri Moissan. He was born on September 28, 1852 and his accomplishments remain extraordinary to this day. Several generations of chemists have been unsuccessful in isolating fluorine due to the fact that this particular element is extremely reactive and does not occur free in nature. The isolation of fluorine was achieved by the electrolysis of potassium fluoride and hydrofluoric acid in 1886 by Henri Moissan. He won the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1906

The name fluorine, comes from the Latin word “fluere” which means to flow. This toxic, pale yellow, corrosive gas is in row 2, group 17; making it the lightest gas in the halogen chemical family. Fluorine is a non-metal element with the atomic mass of 19 and atomic number of 9 respectively. It has a boiling point of -188 degrees Celsius, a melting point of -219 degrees Celsius and a density of 0.0017g/cm3. When fluorine exists in it’s liquid form, it is freely soluble in liquid oxygen and ozone. Fluorine has …show more content…

The few elements Fluorine does not react with are helium, oxygen, neon and krypton. It reacts with hydrogen to form hydrogen fluoride and unknown to many, fluorine reacting with mere water produces a bright flame.

Moissan’s method of producing fluorine has been applied to produce industrial quantities. It is said that the greatest use of fluorine and its compounds are in the nuclear industry. Uranium hexafluoride is used in processing nuclear fuel. Additionally, Etching glass on light bulbs and other products is achieved by hydrofluoric acid. Calcium fluoride is another example of a compound used in the industries. Common compounds of fluorine are sodium fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate, stannous fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, uranium hexafluoride, dichlorodifluoromethane, hydrogen fluoride and calcium

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