Iodine by mass action due to the precipitation of the insoluble salt. Iodine is the least abundant of the stable halogens, comprising only 0.46 parts per million of Earth's crustal rocks (compare: fluorine 544 ppm, chlorine 126 ppm, bromine 2.5 ppm). Among the eighty-four elements which occur in significant quantities (elements 1–42, 44–60, 62–83, and 90–92), it ranks sixty-first in abundance. Iodide minerals are rare, and most deposits that are concentrated enough for economical extraction are iodate minerals instead. Examples include lautarite, Ca(IO), and dietzeite, 7Ca(IO)·8CaCrO. These are the minerals that occur as trace impurities in the caliche, found in Chile,
History of fluorine History of fluorine Fluorine is a relatively new element in human applications. In ancient times, only minor uses of fluorine-containing minerals existed. The industrial use of fluorite, fluorine's source mineral, was first described by early scientist Georgius Agricola in the 16th century, in the context of smelting. The name "fluorite" (and later "fluorine") derives from Agricola's invented Latin terminology. In the late 18th century, hydrofluoric acid was discovered. By the early 19th century, it was recognized that fluorine was a bound element within compounds, similar to chlorine. Fluorite was determined to be calcium fluoride. Because of fluorine's tight bonding as