Fluorine Facts: Curious Element Facts For Chemistry Lovers

The element fluorine is known to be the most electronegative element, with atomic number nine and symbol F in the periodic table. It's electronic configuration is 1s22s22p5. 

Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan discovered fluorine, and it has seven valence electrons.

Of any and all chemical elements, fluorine stands in the 13th place for its abundance in Earth's crust and lies in 24th place as a universally abundant element. Fluorine is a chemically reactive element with high reactivity because it is the most electronegative element.

Fluorine is the lightest halogen of all the other elements present in the periodic table. Fluorine atoms have nine electrons, two electrons in the inner shell, and seven electrons in the outer shell. The chemical element fluorine exists as a pungent, yellowish-green, diatomic, and highly toxic gas, at room temperature, in its pure fluorine form. Fluorine is a monoisotopic element, i.e., it has only one stable isotope. 

Fluorine Classification In Periodic Table 

Let's understand the classification of fluorine in the periodic table:

Fluorine appears as a pale, yellow, diatomic gas. 

Its melting point is -363.40 °F (−219.67 °C), and its boiling point is 306.5 °F (−188.11 °C). 

The Fluorine symbol is F. Its standard atomic weight is 18.998 403 163(6) u. 

Fluorine is highly toxic, and the oxidation state is -1.

Physical Properties Of Fluorine

The physical properties of fluorine consist of rich chemistry.

It can combine with metals, non-metals, noble gases, and metalloids. It forms ionic bonds, and whenever it forms covalent bonds, they are generally polar. 

Chemical element fluorine reacts with alkali metals to form ionic bonds and gives monofluorides as a result of the reaction. The lightest of the halogens, fluorine has just one stable isotope, fluorine-19.

These monofluorides are highly soluble in water. Elemental fluorine reacts and forms difluorides with alkaline earth metals, which are insoluble in water. The only exception is beryllium difluoride, which is soluble in water and shows covalent nature because of its quartz-like structural geometry. 

Fluorine reacts with rare earth metals to form trifluorides.

Because of its connection to the mineral fluorite and the Latin root 'fluo' (which means 'to flow'), fluorine thus gets its name.

Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, came up with the name for this element.

One stable isotope of fluorine has been identified: fluorine-19.

At normal temperature, fluorine is a light yellow diatomic gas. Fluorine is the 24th most common element in the universe, yet it is the 13th most common on Earth.

Fluorite, or fluorspar, is a mineral that glows in the dark when exposed to light. The word fluorescence is derived from this.

It shows covalent bonding when it forms tetrafluorides, and it also forms fluorine compounds that are polymeric in nature. Polymers of fluorine form compounds that have a large spectrum of daily applications.

The best example for this is Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), commonly known as Teflon, which has a wide application in the production of non-stick cookware. It creates a coating on the material, which becomes non-corrosive, waterproof, and even non-reactive. It also is electrically insulative in nature.

Fluorine Functions

Are you curious about the functions of fluorine? Fluorine forms a weak fluoric acid with greater hazards to life and property as compared to other strong acids like sulfuric acid. It can damage glass, organic matter, concrete surfaces, and even metals.

Fluorine also forms hydrogen fluoride when it combines with hydrogen. Hydrogen fluoride later forms anhydrous hydrofluoric acid when the former comes in contact with water vapors or moisture.

It forms insoluble calcium fluoride, which causes burns and severe pain in the body. 0.17-0.35 oz (5-10 g) of sodium fluoride is considered to be lethal for adults.

Fluorine exists in the Earth's crust as minerals such as fluorite, cryolite, and fluorapatite. 

In 1886, a French chemist called Henri Moissan successfully isolated fluorine using low-temperature electrolysis.

This process is being used to date to isolate fluorine from its compounds. Before this, studies on fluorine were so dangerous that the people of the 19th century who studied this were deemed as 'fluorine martyrs'.

World War II marked the large-scale production of elemental fluorine, wherein the Manhattan project, led by joint efforts of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada, utilized huge amounts of fluorine and other fluorine compounds to produce uranium hexafluoride. 

Fluorine gas is used industrially in a process known as uranium enrichment to produce uranium isotopes for nuclear reactors.

Fluorine Atomic Number And The Total Number Of Electrons

Let's learn interesting facts about the atomic number and number of electrons of fluorine.

What are the atomic number and the total number of electrons in fluorine? Fluorine's atomic number and total electron number are the same when they come in contact with each other.

They are equal to the number of protons that exist in the nucleus. So, you can say that the electron count or the electron configuration of fluorine in a neutral atom is nine. 

The pure form of natural fluorine blends with a large variety of chemical compounds and other elements, in which it most of the time adopts the oxidation state of −1.

Due to the presence of various atoms, fluorine changes mostly into polar covalent bonds or, at times, into ionic bonds.

Covalent bonds concerning fluorine atoms are mostly solo bonds, while a minimum of two samples of an advanced order bond occur. Fluorine chemistry consists of inorganic compounds molded with hydrogen, metals, non-metals, and other noble gases and a diverse set of organic compounds.

Did You Know...

Fluorine and its chemical properties are used in toothpaste and drinking water to fight tooth decay and prevent dental cavities in children to avoid dental fluorosis.

Toothpaste and water fluoridation use fluoride ions from fluorine salts to prevent dental cavities or tooth decay.

Fluorine-19 is used in MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging to detect the binding that happens by fluorinated antibody compounds to a target.