Fluorine Fluorine Fluorine is a chemical element with symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists as a highly toxic pale yellow diatomic gas at standard conditions. As the most electronegative element, it is extremely reactive, as it reacts with almost all other elements, except for helium and neon. Among the elements, fluorine ranks 24th in universal abundance and 13th in terrestrial abundance. Fluorite, the primary mineral source of fluorine which gave the element its name, was first described in 1529; as it was added to metal ores to lower their melting points for smelting, the
Halogen made from hydrofluoric acid produced as a by-product in phosphoric acid manufacture. Approximately 15,000 metric tons of fluorine gas are made per year. The mineral halite is the mineral that is most commonly mined for chlorine, but the minerals carnallite and sylvite are also mined for chlorine. Forty million metric tons of chlorine are produced each year by the electrolysis of brine. Approximately 450,000 metric tons of bromine are produced each year. Fifty percent of all bromine produced is produced in the United States, 35% in Israel, and most of the remainder in China. Historically, bromine was produced by adding