The Benefits of Fluorine

If you were to look at a periodic table and look at the element with the atomic number 9, what would you be able to tell me about it? You probably be able to tell me the simple characteristics that are given by the table (element fluorine, atomic mass 18.998, nonmetal, halogen, etc.). Maybe to your surprise but there’s a lot more information about fluorine, then what is stated on that table. For instance, that chart can’t tell you the history behind it and some of its most in depth details, well someone needs to fill you in, so why not me.
Fluorine was first identified by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1771AD, and was later isolated by the French chemist, Henri Moissan in 1886AD. Even though very little advancement had been made in chemistry tools at the time of his isolation, Moissan came up with a way to electrolyze a solution of potassium fluoride in hydrofluoric acid, producing the gas fluorine. After continuous studies, Moissan was able to make a full study of the properties of the element and its reactions. For his work, Moissan was rewarded by winning the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
The word fluorine comes from the Latin word “fluere” meaning, “to flow.”
Now, fluorine is the seventeenth most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Fluorine never had any commercial production until World War II; when the nuclear bomb project and nuclear energy applications made it necessary to produce large quantities, because fluorine and its compounds are used in the production of uranium.
Some basic physical properties about the element fluorine include, that it has a pale yellow color, it is a corrosive gas, it has a structure of 9 protons, 9 electrons, and 10 neutrons, 7 valence electrons, and an electronic configuration of (He)2s22p5.
Chemical properties of fluorine consist of having a cubic crystal structure, and is a gas at room temperature; it is the lightest of all halogens, and is the most chemically active of the nonmetallic elements. Fluorine is a highly dangerous element, causing severe chemical burns on contact with the skin.
Fluorine occurs naturally in the combined form as fluorite. Most fluorine compounds are derived from fluorite, and it is mined in the United States. Fluorine also arises in seawater, rivers, mineral springs, in stems of certain grasses, and in the bones and teeth of animals.
Fluorine can be obtained as a highly reactive and corrosive, highly toxic, pale yellow gas by using electrolysis, the use of electrical currents to separate different substances, of hot molten mixtures such as hydrogen fluoride and potassium fluoride. However, once it has been obtained, fluorine is difficult to store because it reacts with a lot of minerals. Due to safe handling techniques, they have enabled the transport of liquid fluorine by the ton.
As I mentioned early that fluorine is used in the production of uranium, it is also used to produce many more commercial fluorochemicals. Such as, high-temperature plastics, hydrofluoric, which etches glass of light bulbs, fluorochlorohydrocarbons, which are extensively used in air conditioning and refrigeration. So the next time you walk into your house and feel the refreshing breeze of the a.c. on a hot summer day, you can thank fluoride for that; or the next time you turn on the light bulb down in the basement so the boogie-man doesn't get you, you can thank fluoride for that.
The most popular reference that people may put fluorine with is when you were in kindergarten, and they made you take a small swish of fluoride everyday, to help your teeth enamel, or that fluoride is put into drinking water and toothpaste, at very low amounts, so it can help your enamel.
However, an article by Dr. Mark Breiner, states that he stopped his practice of using fluoride, because it was a, “toxic poison, and it did not decrease tooth decay.” He also started that no blinded studies showed a decreases in tooth decay when the water is fluoridated; however, there are studies to show harm from the fluoridation of water. Stating, there is increased risk of hip fracture, birth defects, cancer, arthritis, thyroid dysfunction, and lowering of a person’s IQ.
Even so, the article did state that fluoride works topically, meaning it is an enzyme killer and thus kills the bacteria in the mouth that causes tooth decay.
A realistic solution for this problem is to not put it in the drinking water, just use it in toothpaste or swish with it.
No matter what, fluorine is an element that needs to be thanked, because without it we may have lost WWII, never had the creation of air conditioning, and most importantly are pearly whites, wouldn’t be as pearly white.


resources
Breiner, Dr. Mark . "The Fluoride Controversy- What's the Truth?." Whole Boby News Update 2004: 1.

"Fluorine." Fluorine. 28 Sep 2008 .

"Fluorine Properties." 28 Sep 2008 .