Chlorine Zachary Grindle Chemistry 1301 Professor Bott June 24, 2010 Chlorine has an atomic mass of 35. 453, atomic number 17, is a member of the halogen family (VIIA), and its symbol is “Cl”. Chlorine contains 17 protons and 18 neutrons in is nucleus. There are two isotopes for chlorine as well; Cl-35 and Cl-37. Chlorine was discovered in 1774 by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Sheele. Sheele came upon chlorine when he put a few drops of hydrochloric acid (HCl), then known as muriatic acid, onto a piece of manganese dioxide (MnO2). This caused a reaction where the pricduct was a yellowish-green gas that would later be named chlorine.
At this point Sheele thought that this gas contained oxygen and was some sort of oxygen compound, but it wasn’t until 1810 that the more handsome, British chemist Sir Humphrey Davy discovered that the gas was an element of its own. Davy named the gas “chloric gas” or “chlorine” after the Greek word “chloros” meaning “pale green”. Chlorine appears naturally in both the earth’s crust as well as in sea water. Though chlorine does not exist naturally as a gas, chlorine is obtained through a chemical reaction involving a sodium chloride and water mixture known as brine.
When an electrical current is passed through the brine it reacts and breaks up the solution into chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen gas. The reaction looks like this: 2NaCl + 2H2 —– Cl2 + 2NaOH + H2. Not only is the chlorine exceptionally useful, but the caustic soda that is a co-product of obtaining chlorine is also used in soap, pulp and paper, and textile industries. Having such a useful “co-product” from obtaining chlorine has led to the Chlorine-Alkali industry to be successful. Chlorine is used every day in a number of ways. Here is a bullet list of just five everyday uses that chlorine is found in. Drinking water: Chlorine is crucial in the purification of our drinking water. It was first used in the late 19th century to control the spread of water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and gastro-enteritis. These diseases had been the major killers of its time before water sanitation was used with chlorine. * Home Products and Swimming Pools: Chlorine based products are used in laundry bleach, dishwater detergents, scouring powders, paper towels, and all-purpose cleaners to kill common germs. In additions to home products, chlorine is used in swimming pools to kill dangerous microbes that could otherwise affect health. Hospitals: Chlorine compounds are used to protect patients from infections through its uses in cleaning, disinfection and as an antiseptic. The abilities are used to do the following: * Stops contamination of wounds and burns. * Disinfects dialysis machines. * Disinfect work surfaces, table tops and laboratories. * Kills bacteria that can live in hospital water and air conditioning systems. * Public Safety: Chlorine is used to make protective equipment for police officers and firefighters and in turn for the military as well.
Here are examples of how chlorine based products effect the public safety field: * Protective helmets, face shields, and spectacles. * Bullet-resistant “glass” and bullet resistant vests * Communication equipment including radios, telephones, microprocessors and computer equipment. * PVC pipe is made from chlorine compounds and is the most versatile polymer available. Chlorine can be found in a number of compounds. Here is a list of twelve compounds chlorine is found in and how they are broken down. Sodium Chloride (NaCl) NaCl is found naturally in salt deposits left over from the evaporation of ancient seawater.
NaCl is salt, and its physical state is hard white granules, just like what you find in a salt shaker at a restaurant. Ammonium Chloride (NH4Cl) The extra electron that is found in ammonium is then borrowed by the chlorine to make the bond, creating ammonium chloride. NH4Cl is found naturally around active volcano vents to form fragile crystals. It is formed naturally by the reaction of volcanic gases containing hydrochloric acid (HCl) with natural organic matter in the area that is very nitrogen-rich. It is also industrially produced by a series of chemical reactions.
Here is the process: ammonia gas (NH3) is mixed with water and forms ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH). From there, ammonium hydroxide is mixed with hydrochloric acid (HCl) to form ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) and water. Its physical state is a fragile crystal. Barium Chloride (BaCl2) Barium wants to lose its two valence electrons, and the two chlorines need one a piece, so the barium gives up two electrons to satisfy the chlorine. Barium Chloride is made by a reaction between barium sulfate, barite, and hydrochloric acid. The reaction looks like this: BaSO4 + 2HCl —– BaCl2 + H2SO4.
Barium Chloride’s physical state is a colorless, odourless crystal. Chlorine Dioxide (ClO2) Chlorine is not always held to the octet rule, and in this case has three bonds (2 double bonds and a lone pair). Chlorine is allowed to do this because of its 3d subshell that can “promote” electrons. Chlorine dioxide is a gas at room temperature and dissolves easily in water. One method of creating chlorine dioxide is by reacting sodium chlorite (NaClO2) with hydrochloric acid (HCl). The reaction looks like this: 5NaClO2 + 4HCl —— 2ClO2 + 2H2O + 5Cl- + 5Na+. Ferric Chloride (FeCl3)
Ferric Chloride comes from the left-over of “steel pickling”. Hydrochloric acid is used to strip the rust from steel which is heavy in iron (Fe). After the steel has floated around in the hydrochloric acid, ferric chloride is left over in the mixture as the hydrochloric acid (HCl) reacts with iron (Fe) in the steel. Ferric chloride’s physical state is an orange to brown-black solid. Hydrogen Gold Chloride (HAuCl2) Hydrogen gold chloride is formed again from volcanic reactions. Volcanoes release gases that include steam, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide.
The magma that come from volcanoes contains gold and when this magma and the gases react together, one of the compounds formed is hydrogen gold chloride. The physical state is red crystals. Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) At room temperature hydrochloric acid is a colorless gas. HCl is the compound known as hydrochloric acid, much like H2O is the compound known as water. Hydrochloric acid is produced naturally from the earth, with volcanic eruptions being one outlet. Titanium Tetrachloride (TiCl4) Titanium Tetrachloride is made by a chemical reaction involving titanium dioxide, chlorine gas, and carbon at 1,000 degrees Celsius.
When mixed together titanium tetrachloride and carbon dioxide gas are formed. Here is how the reaction looks: TiO2 + 2Cl2 + C —— TiCl4 + CO2. The physical state of titanium tetrachloride is a yellow liquid. Trichlorosilane (HSiCl3) In the process of getting pure silicon, trichlorosilane is used as an intermediate compound. First silicon must be separated from oxygen where it is found naturally as SiO2. This reaction takes place at 2,000 degrees C and it looks like this : SiO2 + C —– Si + CO2. Next the silicon is then reacted with hydrochloric acid to create trichlorosilane and hydrogen gas.
This reaction takes place and looks like this: Si + 3HCl —- HSiCl3 + H2. It’s from this that trichlorosilane is broken down more to produce pure silicon. Potassium Chloride (KCl) Potassium chloride is also known as the mineral sylvite and is a salt that is found naturally. In its natural state it is similar to sodium chloride and is a rock similar to table salt. Chlorine is used every day in a variety of different compounds. It has an effect on most of what we deal with everyday. Here are just a few examples of how chlorine is used in our lives throughout our day. * Sodium chloride is table salt.
It is also known as the mineral Halite and is found naturally in deposits in the earth’s crust. Table salt is available at all restaurants for your convenience and is already put in most food that you consume daily. This is probably the most used every day compound containing chlorine. * Ammonium chloride is a major component of dry cell batteries. Batteries are used daily in a variety of ways. We use batteries for emergencies when power goes out, in our cars to start them, radios for enjoyment, and countless other areas. Ammonium chloride is also used to lower the melting temperature of metals for certain manufacturing reasons. Chlorine dioxide is a major player in disinfection. It is diluted with water to various degrees of strength and uses. It can be used on poultry, meat, and vegetables to destroy pathogens. It has also said to be used to remove mold from historical documents without destroying the document itself. * Ferric chloride is very useful, and is used every day to help clean our water supply. When water is coming in from lakes and rivers to be purified it goes through a few processes. After the initial process of getting the big debris out like tree limbs and such, there are still small particle floating around that are too small to sink.
What ferric chloride does is make these tiny pieces of debris group together so they eventually become big enough to fall to the bottom and clear the water around it. * Hydrochloric acid is used in the manufacturing of steel. It is use to clean the steel and strip it of rust, and without hydrochloric acid we wouldn’t have the steel that we use daily to make our cars, bridges, building, etc. HCl is also used in the production of batteries, flash bulbs, and to process sugar and gelatin. Works Cited Benton, Yinon. Chemical Element. com – Chlorine. Jun. 19, 2010 http://www. chemicalelements. com/elements/cl. html Gagnon, Steve.
Jefferson Lab – The Element Chlorine. Jun. 19, 2010 http://education. jlab. org/itselemental/ele017. html Lenntech – Chlorine – Cl. Jun. 19, 2010 http://www. lenntech. com/periodic/elements/cl. htm www. americanchemistry. com American Chemistry Council, Inc. americanchemistry – Chlorine Story. Jun. 20, 2010 http://www. americanchemistry. com/s_chlorine/sec_content. asp? CID=1166&DID=4476&CTYPEID=109 American Chemistry Council, Inc. americanchemistry – Chlorine Compound of the Month Library. Jun. 20, 2010 http://www. americanchemistry. com/s_chlorine/science_compound. asp? CID=1219&DID=4622&CTYPEID=113 ww. eurochlor. org Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/index. asp? page=678 Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/makingchlorine Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/medical Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/publichealth Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/publicsafety Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/livingstandards Euro Chlor – Chlorine Online. Jun. 22, 2010 http://www. eurochlor. org/industrialprocesses ww. webelements. com WebElements – Chlorine. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/ WebElements – Chlorine Compounds. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/compounds. html WebElements – Chlorine: historical information. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/history. html WebElements – Chlorine: uses. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/uses. html WebElements – Chlorine: geological information. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/geology. html WebElements – Isotopes of chlorine. Jun 19, 2010 http://www. webelements. com/chlorine/isotopes. html
