Death Element: The Legendary History of Fluorine!

Fluorine is a non-metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol F and atomic number 9. Fluorine is one of the halogen elements, belonging to the periodic system VIIa group, and is located in the second period of the periodic table. The elemental fluorine is F2, which is a light yellow and highly toxic gas. Fluorine has strong corrosiveness and extremely active chemical properties. It is one of the most oxidizing substances and can even react with some inert gases under certain conditions.

Fluorine is an essential element in human bones and teeth, and an appropriate amount of fluoride can increase bone hardness and inhibit the growth of oral bacteria. Fluorine is also an important element in the development of the national economy, playing an important role in fields such as automobiles, electronic information, building materials, petrochemicals, metals, glass, and agriculture.

However, in the history of chemical element discovery, the discovery of fluorine can be said to be the most attended, longest lasting, and most dangerous research topic.

The Battle of Fluorine Production Begins

The earliest record of fluorine can be traced back to 1529. German mineralogist Agrikala recorded in his notebook that miners added an ore to a steel smelting furnace, which could increase the furnace temperature, remove sulfur, phosphorus, and other impurities. It could also form a eutectic with the slag, making it easier to separate the slag and metallic iron. This type of ore was later known as fluorite.

At 1670, a German glassworker named Schwarzwald accidentally mixed fluorite and sulfuric acid together, producing a gas that covered his glasses with a thin mist, making him realize that this gas could corrode glass. So he began to use this method to carve glass and create glass artworks with various patterns, becoming a glass sculptor highly appreciated by the imperial court and earning a lot of money, but he never knew the principle of this technology.

In 1780, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheler was fascinated by this phenomenon and speculated that the gas produced by the contact of fluorite with sulfuric acid may contain some unknown active element. To verify his hypothesis, he conducted multiple experiments, but he passed away early due to poisoning and did not receive an answer.

Later, many chemists actively engaged in the study of this gas, and found that the mixture obtained by mixing fluorite and sulfuric acid had properties very similar to hydrochloric acid, but was more stable than hydrochloric acid, and had strong corrosiveness to glass and some silicate minerals.

In 1810, British chemist David concluded through experiments that chlorine gas is an element rather than a compound, and pointed out that acids may not necessarily contain oxygen.

This discovery gave great inspiration to French chemist Ampere, who pointed out that the mixture of fluorite and sulfuric acid may contain an element similar to chlorine, which he named fluorine. Upon learning this conclusion, David began using his most skilled electrolysis method to attempt to separate fluorine.

At this point, the "battle of fluorine production" among chemists has begun.

Intense confrontation with fluorine

David made multiple improvements and repeated experiments on the electrolysis device, all of which ended in failure. He was also forced to stop the research due to severe symptoms of fluoride poisoning.

At the same time, French chemists Guy L ü sseck and Theiner collaborated on an experiment on the electrolysis of fluorine, but the experiment was also terminated due to poisoning.

In 1834, David's student Faraday also attempted the electrolysis method of fluorine, but the experiments were unsuccessful.

In 1836, the brothers George Knox and Thomas Knox of the Irish Academy of Sciences attempted to produce fluorine by reacting chlorine with mercury fluoride, but during the experiment, they were poisoned and collapsed, and were urgently sent to the hospital for treatment.

Belgian chemist Pauline Ruyette and French chemist Jerome Nickley also conducted further research, ultimately leading to poisoning and dedicating themselves to science.

In 1854, French chemist Edmund Fr é mie repeatedly used electrolysis to melt anhydrous calcium fluoride, potassium fluoride, and silver fluoride. The gas generated quickly corroded the platinum electrode, but fluorine was never collected.

In 1869, British chemist Bill Goethe also decided to attempt the electrolysis method to decompose hydrogen fluoride to prepare fluorine as a single substance. However, due to his lack of understanding of the properties of fluorine, a small amount of fluorine produced in the experiment underwent a violent chemical reaction with hydrogen, leading to an explosion accident.

At this point, many scientists have realized that fluorine is a very active element and it is very difficult to separate this element from compounds.

Conquering the long-awaited fluorine elemental

In 1872, a young man named Henry Maupassant became a student of Edmund Fremi and began his own path in chemical research.

When the research topic of preparing elemental fluorine was handed over to Movasan, he did not feel discouraged by the difficult problem that had stumped many chemists, but instead made up his mind to overcome it.

Based on the experimental records in the literature, Movasan conducted multiple experiments, but none of them were successful. He was also forced to interrupt the experiment due to poisoning caused by attempting to use arsenic fluoride for electrolysis.

In the end, Movasan improved the electrolysis device, designed a platinum U-shaped tube device, made a plug with fluorite, and used a refrigerant to cool the experimental device, lowering the reaction temperature. Finally, after introducing an electric current, he obtained the fluorine that countless scientists had dreamed of. This year was 1886, and 76 years had passed since Ampere named it fluorine.

In 1906, Movasan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his outstanding achievements in the preparation of fluorine monomers and the synthesis of fluorine compounds, becoming the second person to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to the discovery of chemical elements.

After successfully preparing fluorine as a single substance, Movasan began to study fluorides and became the first chemist to prepare many new fluorides. He prepared gaseous fluoromethane, fluoroethane, and isobutylfluoride, and synthesized many fluorocarbon compounds through the reaction of carbon and fluorine. The most notable one was tetrafluoromethane, which was the precursor of the later high-efficiency refrigerant Freon.

Movasan compiled his research on fluorine into the book "Fluorine and Its Compounds" as a reference material for future research on fluorine and its compounds.

Conclusion: More possibilities about fluorine

More than a hundred years after the successful preparation of fluorine, fluorinated compounds have been widely used in various aspects of human life, making important contributions to the development of productivity and the progress of human society. Traditional industries such as glass production, ceramic production, metal smelting, and emerging industries such as new energy batteries and semiconductors all have traces of fluorine.

The pioneers of fluorine chemistry have turned their wisdom and persistence into sharp tools, exploring the unknown field of fluorine with great difficulty and paving the way to truth. Their unwavering spirit of exploration in the face of the unknown will be like the light of a lighthouse, leading us deeper and wider, and discovering more possibilities about fluorine.