Fluorine History

Fluorine in the form of fluorspar (calcium fluoride) was described in 1529 by Georgius Agricola for its use as a flux, which is a substance that is used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals. In 1670 Schwandhard found that glass was etched when it was exposed to fluorspar that was treated with acid. Karl Scheele and many later researchers, including Humphry Davy, Gay-Lussac, Antoine Lavoisier, and Louis Thenard all would experiment with hydrofluoric acid, easily obtained by treating calcium fluoride (fluorspar) with concentrated sulfuric acid.


It was eventually realized that hydrofluoric acid contained a previously unknown element. This element was not isolated for many years after this due to its extreme reactivity - it is separated from its compounds only with difficulty and then it immediately attacks the remaining materials of the compound. Finally in 1886 fluorine was isolated by Henri Moissan after almost 74 years of continuous effort. It was an effort which cost several researchers their health or even their lives, and for Moissan, it earned him the 1906 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

The first large scale production of fluorine was needed for the atomic bomb Manhattan project in World War II where the compound uranium hexafluoride (UF6) was used to separate the 235U and 238U isotopes of uranium. Today both the gaseous diffusion process and the gas centrifuge process use gaseous (UF6) to produce enriched uranium for nuclear power applications.

The derivation of elemental fluorine from hydrofluoric acid is exceptionally dangerous, killing or blinding several scientists who attempted early experiments on this halogen. These men came to be referred to as "Fluorine Martyrs."