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Fluorine (pronounced /ËˆflÊŠÉ™riËn/, Latin: fluere, meaning "to flow"), is the chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. more...

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Atomic fluorine is univalent and is the most chemically reactive and electronegative of all the elements. In its elementally isolated (pure) form, fluorine is a poisonous, pale, yellowish brown gas, with chemical formula F₂. Like other halogens, molecular fluorine is highly dangerous; it causes severe chemical burns on contact with skin.

Fluorine's large electronegativity and small atomic radius gives it interesting bonding characteristics, particularly in conjunction with carbon, with which it forms stable compounds with a wide range of industrial applications. See covalent radius of fluorine, fluorocarbon, Perfluorocarbon, and fluoropolymer.

Notable characteristics

Pure fluorine (F₂) is a corrosive pale yellow or brown gas that is a powerful oxidizing agent. It is the most reactive and most electronegative of all the elements (4.0), and readily forms compounds with most other elements. It has an oxidation number -1, except when bonded to another fluorine in F₂ which gives it an oxidation number of 0. Fluorine even combines with argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. Even in dark, cool conditions, fluorine reacts explosively with hydrogen. The reaction with hydrogen occurs even at extremely low temperatures, using liquid hydrogen and solid fluorine. It is so reactive that metals, and even water, as well as other substances, burn with a bright flame in a jet of fluorine gas. It is far too reactive to be found in elemental form. In moist air it reacts with water to form also-dangerous hydrofluoric acid.

Fluorides are compounds that combine fluorine with some positively charged counterpart. They often consist of crystalline ionic salts. Fluorine compounds with metals are among the most stable of salts.

Hydrogen fluoride is a weak acid when dissolved in water. Consequently, fluorides of alkali metals produce basic solutions.

Applications

Chemical uses:

Atomic fluorine and molecular fluorine are used for plasma etching in semiconductor manufacturing, flat panel display production and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) fabrication. Xenon difluoride is also used for this last purpose.; Hydrofluoric acid (chemical formula HF) is used to etch glass in light bulbs and other products.; Fluorine is indirectly used in the production of low friction plastics such as Teflon (or polytetrafluoroethylene), and in halons such as freon.; Along with some of its compounds, fluorine is used in the production of pure uranium from uranium hexafluoride and in the synthesis of numerous commercial fluorochemicals, including vitally important pharmaceuticals, agrochemical compounds, lubricants, and textiles.; Fluorochlorohydrocarbons are used extensively in air conditioning and in refrigeration. Chlorofluorocarbons have been banned for these applications because they contribute to ozone destruction and the ozone hole. Interestingly, since it is chlorine and bromine radicals which harm the ozone layer, not fluorine, compounds which do not contain chlorine or bromine but contain only fluorine, carbon and hydrogen (called hydrofluorocarbons) are not on the EPA list of ozone-depleting substances, and have been widely used as replacements for the chlorine- and bromine-containing fluorocarbons. Hydrofluorocarbons do have a greenhouse effect, but a small one compared with carbon dioxide and methane.; Sulfur hexafluoride is an extremely inert and nontoxic gas, very useful as an insulator in high-voltage electrical equipment. It does not occur in nature, so it is a useful tracer gas, though as an exceptionally potent greenhouse gas its use in unenclosed systems is inadvisable.; Sodium hexafluoroaluminate (cryolite), is used in the electrolysis of aluminium.; In much higher concentrations, sodium fluoride has been used as an insecticide, especially against cockroaches.; Fluorides have been used in the past to help molten metal flow, hence the name.; Some researchers including US space scientists in the early 1960s have studied elemental fluorine gas as a possible rocket propellant due to its exceptionally high specific impulse. The experiments failed because fluorine proved difficult to handle, and its combustion products proved extremely toxic and corrosive.; Compounds of fluorine such as fluoropolymers, potassium fluoride and cryolite are utilized in applications such as anti-reflective coatings and dichroic mirrors on account of their unusually low refractive index.;