OPOpenPithMake curiosity visibleCHEMISTRY LAB / 02

The Periodic Table

118 elements, raised by their properties.

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About Fluorine

Fluorine is a chemical element; it has the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as pale yellow diatomic gas. Fluorine is extremely reactive as it reacts with all other elements except for the light noble gases. Fluorine in its elemental form is highly toxic.

Among the elements, fluorine ranks 24th in cosmic abundance and 13th in crustal abundance. Fluorite, the primary mineral source of fluorine, which gave the element its name, was first described in 1529; as it was added to metal ores to lower their melting points for smelting, the Latin verb fluo meaning 'to flow' gave the mineral its name. Proposed as an element in 1810, fluorine proved difficult and dangerous to separate from its compounds, and several early experimenters died or sustained injuries from their attempts. Only in 1886 did French chemist Henri Moissan isolate elemental fluorine using low-temperature electrolysis, a process still employed for modern production. Industrial production of fluorine gas for uranium enrichment, its largest application, began during the Manhattan Project in World War II.

The text above is from the lead of the Wikipedia article “Fluorine” (retrieved 2026-11-05), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Data and notes

Column height is a linear display mapping; the shortest column is not zero. Data: PubChem, IAEA.

Solid columns are measured, frosted glass is predicted, empty frames have no value.

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