Compiled  by London swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 25 JANUARY 2019
GMT Time uploaded in London –11-31 am
Post No. 5984
Pictures shown here are taken from various sources including google, Wikipedia, Facebook friends and newspapers. This is a non- commercial blog

compiled by London swaminathan

Fluorine is one of the 118 known elements. It belongs to the Halogen group.

Fluorine is useful to us in the following ways:-
Tooth paste to strengthen the tooth enamel 
Non sticky Teflon pans
P E T – Positron Emission Tomography in health checks
Landing on Moon and other Space Explorations
Important Medicines


First let us look at some interesting tit bits:-
Contrary to popular belief, it was not space exploration that led to the development of the non -stick frying pan, but the other way round. The non- stick frying pan relies on Teflon, the polymer Tetrafluoroethene. That was discovered by Roy Plunkett at the Du Pont research laboratory in New Jersey, U S A, in 1938.

((posted by swamiindology.blogspot.com AND tamilandvedas.com))

One morning he opened a cylinder of tetrafluoroethene which was supposed to hold 1000 grams of the gas but only 990 grams came out. The missing ten grams had turned into a curious white powder which was a plastic with remarkable properties. It would not dissolve in anything, was not affected by heat, wouldn’t burn and was not attacked by hot corrosive acids. More unusual was its ability to flexible down to minus 240 Degree C. It was this property which made it so important for use in space and on moon where such temperatures prevail.

Later Louis Hartman found a way to use this on aluminium pans in 1950s. The French company Tefal, marketed the first non -stick frying pans ten years before man set foot on the Moon.

Nobel Prize
Georgius Agricola described the use of fluorspar, calcium fluoride, in 1529. But it was Henri Moissan who extracted fluorine and got Nobel prize for chemistry in 1906.
Fluorine was named meaning ‘to flow’.

Chemical symbol F
Atomic number 9
Melting point minus 220 degree C
Boiling point minus 188 degree C

Useful to humans
In humans, most of the fluoride accumulates in the bones and teeth. It strengthens both, converting the calcium phosphate of which they are made into fluorapatite, a harder material. This in tooth enamel, can better resist the corrosive effect of acids produced by oral bacteria acting on sugar for this reason it is added to water supplies and tooth pastes.

Cockroach killer
Fluorine is poisonous. But humans need it in minute quantities. Laboratory animals without fluorine in diet became anaemic and infertile. Because of its toxic effects, it is used in insecticide to kill cockroaches and ants. ((posted by swamiindology.blogspot.com AND tamilandvedas.com))

47 people died
At a hospital in the USA in 1943, patients were served scrambled eggs to which sodium fluoride had been added instead of normal salt sodium chloride. 163 people became sick and 47 of them died.

Punjab Problem
If too much fluorine is taken, fluorosis disease comes. It results in mottled teeth and deformed skeletons. In Punjab, people drink water with high levels of fluoride and millions of people are affected by this.
Fluoride comes to us from foods such as potatoes, butter, cheese, sea fish, pork and chicken.
Fluorine is produced in China, Mexico and west Europe.

PET
Fluorine has an effect on enzymes, effectively blocking their activity. This is useful in certain experiments and treatments.
The isotope fluorine 18 is used in medical diagnosis through the technique known as P E T , positron emission tomography. The half- life of the isotope is only 110 minutes. It can go into places in our body which other substances can’t do. This helps us to study the internal organs.
Twenty percent of important medicines are made with fluorine compounds and the pharmaceutical companies make big money with it.

Friend of women in kitchen, friend of pharmaceutical companies, friend of every tooth paste using human and friend of space explorers is FLUORINE. ((posted by swamiindology.blogspot.com AND tamilandvedas.com))

Source Book:-Nature’s Building Blocks

John Emsley
Xxxx