Isotopes of chlorine Isotopes of chlorine Chlorine (Cl) has 25 isotopes with mass numbers ranging from Cl to Cl and 2 isomers (Cl and Cl). There are two principal stable isotopes, Cl (75.78%) and Cl (24.22%), giving chlorine a standard atomic weight of 35.45. The longest-lived radioactive isotope is Cl, which has a half-life of 301,000 years. All other isotopes have half-lives under 1 hour, many less than one second. The shortest-lived are Cl and Cl, with half-lives less than 20 and 30 nanoseconds, respectively—the half-life of Cl is unknown. Bromine is the only other halogen with more than one stable isotope. Trace
History of fluorine commercial quantities. Large-scale productions of elemental fluorine began during World War II. Germany used high-temperature electrolysis to produce tons of chlorine trifluoride, a compound planned to be used as an incendiary. The Manhattan project in the United States produced even more fluorine for use in uranium separation. Gaseous uranium hexafluoride was used to separate uranium-235, an important nuclear explosive, from the heavier uranium-238 in diffusion plants. Because uranium hexafluoride releases small quantities of corrosive fluorine, the separation plants were built with special materials. All pipes were coated with nickel; joints and flexible parts were fabricated from Teflon. In 1958, a