Fluorine named the acidic product "fluss-spats-syran" (fluorspar acid). In 1810, the French physicist André-Marie Ampère suggested that hydrogen and an element analogous to chlorine constituted hydrofluoric acid. Sir Humphry Davy proposed that this then-unknown substance be named "fluorine" from fluoric acid and the "-ine" suffix of other halogens. This word, with modifications, is used in most European languages; Greek, Russian, and some others (following Ampère's suggestion) use the name "ftor" or derivatives, from the Greek φθόριος ("phthorios", destructive). The New Latin name "fluorum" gave the element its current symbol F; Fl was used in early papers. Initial studies on fluorine were
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