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
Fluorine to their ozone damaging potential (ODP). The high stability which suited them to their original applications also meant that they were not decomposing until they reached higher altitudes, where liberated chlorine and bromine atoms attacked ozone molecules. Even with the ban, and early indications of its efficacy, predictions warned that several generations would pass before full recovery. With one-tenth the ODP of CFCs, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are the current replacements, and are themselves scheduled for substitution by 2030–2040 by hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) with no chlorine and zero ODP. In 2007 this date was brought forward to 2020 for developed countries; the Environmental