Chlorine grew until the part failed. The fracture surface shows iron and calcium salts that were deposited in the leaking joint from the water supply before failure. The element iron can combine with chlorine at high temperatures in a strong exothermic reaction, creating a "chlorine-iron fire". Chlorine-iron fires are a risk in chemical process plants, where much of the pipework that carries chlorine gas is made of steel. Chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly
Biological aspects of fluorine Biological aspects of fluorine Biological aspects of fluorine describes the effects of fluorine-containing compounds with life. Fluorine (F) itself is very rare in everyday life, but hundreds of fluorine-containing compounds occur as minerals, medicines, pesticides, and materials. Naturally occurring organofluorine compounds are extremely rare. Nonetheless, twenty percent of all commercialized pharmaceuticals contain fluorine, examples being Lipitor and Prozac. Manmade fluorinated compounds have also played a role in several noteworthy environmental concerns. Chlorofluorocarbons, once major components of numerous commercial aerosol products, have proven damaging to Earth's ozone layer and resulted in the wide-reaching Montreal Protocol (though in truth the chlorine in