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Fluorine
The name of the element is derived from the Latin (fluo = I flow). Fluorspar (calcium fluoride, CaF2) was known in the middle ages as a flux in metallurgical processes. Hydrogen fluoride HF, was produced by the action of concentrated sulphuric acid on fluorspar in the eighteenth century, but all chemical methods devised to produce the free element failed. The electrolysis of an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride, first attempted by Davy, gave hydrogen and oxygen. It was not until 1886 that Moissan electrolysed anhydrous hydrofluoric acid (containing potassium hydrogen fluoride, KHF2, to render it considering) and obtained fluorine at the anode. This process is still the only effective one for preparing fluorine.

Occurrence

Calcium fluoride occurs as fluorspar or fluorite in England, e.g. in Derbyshire, where it is coloured blue and in the United States. The usually colourless crystals show a blue fluorescence when heated and the name for this phenomenon clearly originates from this property. Other minerals containing fluorine are cryolite, Na3AlF6 (used in the extraction of aluminium) and fluorapatite, CaF2.3Ca3(PO4)2. Bones and teeth contain fluorides, and some natural waters contain traces.

Preparation

Fluorine cannot be prepared directly by chemical methods, and the only method of preparing it is by electrolysis of a fused fluoride. This may be carried out either (a) using fused potassium hydrogen fluoride, KHF2 in a cell heated electrically to 250-300˚C or (b) using fused electrolyte of composition KF:HF = 1:2 in a cell at 70-100˚C, which can be electrically or steam heated.

Process (b) at the lower temperature is commonly used both in the laboratory and on the large scale, and the essentials of the electrolytic cell are similar in each case. Figure shows such a cell, which can be made of steel, or a copper-nickel ally (‘Monel’ metal): the cell forms the cathode and the anode is of amorphous carbon. During electrolysis =, fluorine is liberated at the anode at the cathode and is similarly collected. The hydrogen fluoride content of the fused electrolyte is maintained is almost pure, containing only a little hydrogen fluoride, which is removed by passage of the gas over sodium fluoride:

NaF + HF NaHF2

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