Chlorine clear amber colored liquid, pungent odor most abundant member of the halogen family major building blocks for the chemical, pharmaceutical industries NASA detected chlorinated methane compounds on mars red planet surfce

1. Article written and published
By
www.worldofchemicals.com

2. 
Chlorine is the most abundant member of the halogen family of
periodic table elements. Chlorine is an important chemical in our
day-to-day life. Chlorine is a clear amber-colored liquid about 1.5
times heavier than water. Gaseous chlorine is greenishyellow, about 2.5 times as heavier than air, which will cause it to
initially remain near the ground in areas with little air
movement. Chlorine has a pungent odor. Chlorine is a powerful
oxidizing agent and it must be handled carefully. Chlorine is a
yellow-green gas at room temperature.

Chlorine is a major building block for the chemical and
pharmaceutical industry. Chlorineis also known as disinfectant in
drinking water and in swimming pools, chlorine contributes to
advances in areas as diverse as disinfecting, medicine, public
safety and enhancing our everyday life.

Chlorine is not flammable, but may react explosively or form
explosive compounds with many common substances (including
acetylene, ether, turpentine, ammonia, natural
gas, hydrogen, and finely divided metals).

3. 
Chlorine is slightly water soluble, and reacts with
moisture to form hypochlorous acid (HClO) and
hydrochloric acid (HCl).


Chlorine is commonly pressurized and cooled for
storage and shipment as an amber-colored liquid.


Chlorine gas is a harmful poison, which was the first
gas used in chemical warfare in World War I. It causes
suffocation, constriction of the chest, tightness in the
throat, and edema of the lungs. As little as 2.5 mg
per litre in the atmosphere causes death in
minutes, but less than 0.0001 percent by volume may
be tolerated for several hours.

4. 
A Chinese folk medicine plant contains five
natural organo chlorine compounds.

An Ecuadorian tree frog produces a chlorinated
alkaloid, with pain-killing properties several
hundred times more powerful than morphine.

A natural organ chlorine antibiotic
i.e., vancomycin, is a key defense against
hospital Staphylococcus infections.

Some natural organ chlorinated products exhibit
potent antibacterial and anticancer properties

5. 
NASA’s Curiosity Rover, currently exploring the surface of
Mars, has detected the presence of chlorine on the Red Planet. A
Mars expert at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, US, stated
that "the presence of perchlorates implies a source of
chlorine, which was most likely derived from briny water or
volcanic activity in the past".

NASA also detected chlorinated methane compounds when soil
samples were analyzed in Curiosity's on-board laboratory.

Chlorine constitutes about 0.013 percent of the Earth's crust.

Free chlorine has been reported as a very minor constituent of
volcanic gases, of which hydrogen chloride (q.v.) is a fairly
common component.

Chlorine, as the chloride ion Cl-, is the main negative ion in
ocean water (1.9 percent by weight) and in inland seas such as
the Caspian Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Great Salt Lake of Utah

6. 
Chlorine molecules are composed of two atoms (Cl2).
Chlorine combines directly with almost all the
elements to give chlorides

Besides the -1 oxidation state of the
chlorides, chlorine also exhibits +1, +3, +5, +7
oxidation states, respectively, in the following ions:
hypochlorite, ClO-; chlorite, ClO-2 ; chlorate, ClO-3
and perchlorate, ClO-4 .

Chlorine also exists in the forms of four oxides, such
as chlorine monoxide (Cl2O),chlorine
dioxide (ClO2), dichlorine hexoxide (Cl2O6), and
dichlorine heptoxide (Cl2O7). All the four oxides are
highly reactive and unstable, have been indirectly
synthesized.

7. 
Chlorine can displace the
heavier halogens, bromine and iodine, from their
ionic compounds and undergoes addition or
substitution reactions with organic compounds.
Chlorine enters directly or as an intermediate into
the synthesis of many organic chemicals that are used
as solvents, dyes, plastics, and synthetic rubber.

Many chemicals, plastics and medicines depend on
chlorine during the manufacturing process, although
the chemical is not contained in the end product.

Two third of all chlorine is used in the production of
plastics, such as PVC, Poly-Urethanes, Epoxyresins, Teflon, Neoprene etc., for use in
construction, automotive, electronic and electrical
industries.

8.  85
per cent of medicines, including many
lifesaving drugs, are made using chlorine
chemistry.

 25
per cent of medical devices contain
chlorine, including blood bags, sterile tubing,
heart catheters, prosthetics and X-ray films.

 More
than 90 per cent of Western Europe's
drinking water is made safe with the help of
chlorine. Worldwide waterborne diseases kill
15 million people each year.

9. 
Most chlorine is industrially produced by the electrolysis of
brine. Chlorine is also obtained as a by-product in the
manufacture of sodium metal by the electrolysis of molten
sodium chloride.

One of the laboratory methods to prepare chlorine is
reaction between sulfuric acid andsodium hypochlorite or
hydrochloric acid with sodium hypochlorite. Sulfuric
acid or hydrochloric acid reacts with sodium hypochlorite
solution to release chlorine gas but reacts with sodium
chlorate to produce chlorine gas and chlorine dioxide gas.

Industrial production of chlorine is through by following
process
The membrane cell process
The mercury cell process
The diaphragm cell process




10. 
Chlorine and its compounds are used extensively for
bleaching in the paper and textile industries, for
disinfecting municipal water supplies, for household
bleaches and germicides, and for the production of many
organic and inorganic chemicals, in the separation of such
metals as copper, lead, zinc, nickel, and gold from their
ores.

Chlorinated solvents are used as an extraction medium in
pharmaceutical processes, in printing, mining and plastics
processing, in the manufacture of adhesives and in paint &
varnish remover

Chlorine compounds have been used in pharmaceutical
formulations for many years and play a part in the
eradication of infection and disease. It is not only used in
antiseptics, but in drugs such as chloramphenicol.

11. 1] © From, http://www.eurochlor.org/thechlorine-universe/chlorine-in-nature/chlorinefound-on-mars!.aspx
 [2] © From, http://www.c-fc.com/specgas_products/chlorine.htm
 [3] © From, http://www.eurochlor.org/thechlorine-universe/what-is-chlorine-usedfor/chlorine%E2%80%99s-role-in-industrialprocesses.aspx
 [4] ©
From, http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental
/emergency/chemical_terrorism/chlorine_tech.
htm
 http://www.worldofchemicals.com/wocart/435/
chlorine-role-in-day-to-day-life.html
