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- Name : Chlorine
- Symbol : Cl
- Atomic # : 17
- Atom weight: 35.453
- Melting P. : -100.98
- Boiling P. : -34
- Oxidation : -1
- Pronounced : KLOR-een OR KLOR-in
- From : Greek chloros, "greenish yellow"
- Identified : Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774
- Appearance : Greenish-yellow, disagreeable gas
- Note : Deadly; the most common weapons in gas warfare of World War I
-
- [Properties]
-
- Chlorine is a memeber of the Group-VIIA, or halogen, elements. Notice that
- the names of all the halogens end with -ine: fluorine (F), bromine (Br),
- iodine (I), and astatine (At).
- Being a halogen means that chlorine is a very reactive ion, forming -1
- bonds with nearly all metals. For example, the best known compound of
- chlorine, sodium chloride (NaCl), combines the chlorine ion with the
- metallic element, sodium. Like the other halogens, elemental chlorine forms
- a diatomic moleucle, or halide.
- Chlorine is a nonmetal that exists as a greenish-yellow, highly corrosive
- gas at room temperature. It is essential that you avoid inhaling even the
- smallest does of concentrated chlorine gas. If you want to get some
- appreciation of its suffocating odor, you can experience it at safe
- concentrations around large swimming pools and in areas where someone is
- using chlorine bleach.
-