Chlorine

Kingsley
11/2/2014

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Chlorine is a yellow-green gas that is harmful to the lungs. It was used in World War
1(more commonly known as WW1), and is still used today in many different things. It is in the
halogen group (17) and is the second lightest halogen (salt producer) after fluorine, and it is a
strong oxidizing element. The most common form of chlorine is salt. It was used around the
world for money, trade, and food, and it still is today. Chlorine is also used in bleach for laundry
detergents.
Chlorine was discovered and studied in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. He observed the
properties of chlorine and accidentally mistook it for an oxide of some sort (An oxide is a binary
compound of oxygen with another element or group). In 1809, chemists suggested that the gas
might be a pure element (A pure element is an element with just one stable isotope.). Finally, this
was proved wrong by Sir Humphry Davy in 1810. He proved that it was actually a gas, which
was soon to lead to chemical warfare production later on.
Chlorine in its gaseous form was first used by the French Chemist Claude Berthollet to
bleach clothes, hence the name bleach. Modern Bleaches came from further work by him,
because he produced sodium hypochlorite (bleach) in his lab in Paris by passing chlorine gas
through some sodium carbonate (soda ash). The result, of course, was a weak but useful solution
of bleach, back then, known as Javel (the name of Paris back then) water. However, his process
wasnt very efficient, and new ways to do it were created.
In the time period that WWI took place; chlorine was used as a weapon. The soldiers first
described it as a mixture between pepper and pineapple. It also tasted metallic and clung to the
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back of the throat. Chlorine reacts to the water inside the mucus in the lungs, forming
hydrochloric acid, which could kill a grown man.
It was first used by the French in war against the Germans. In the first month, they used
tear gas filled grenades against the Germans, but the Germans were the first people in the war to
study the creation of chemical weapons and use it on a large scale. Chlorine, however, was used
in the Second battle of Ypres. On the 22nd of April, the French and Algerian Armies noticed a
yellow green cloud coming towards them from the sky. This was the first use of poison gas, or
chlorine on the battlefield.

Other than its use in World War One, chlorine is also used in pools. It is actually used to
clean pools. When you pour a chlorine solution into water, it breaks down into several chemicals,
including hypochlorous acid (HOCI) and hypochlorite ion (OCI-). They both kill microorganisms
like bacteria by attacking lipids (naturally occurring organisms in fat, vitamins, wax, etc.) in the
cells walls. The levels of HOCI in a pool vary with the pools pH level. A pools pH should be
7.4, the pH of a human tear. If it is not high enough, then not enough HOCI is present. This
means cleaning the pool can take longer than usual.

BIBLOGRAPHY
http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine#History
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question652.htm