Chlorine (Cl)

Chlorine is a yellow-green gas at room temperature and an extremely powerful oxidizing agent.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Carl Wilhelm Scheele prepared chlorine in 1774, but Humphry Davy showed in 1810 that the yellow-green gas was an element and named it.
• It is a dense, toxic, powerfully oxidizing gas, infamously used as a chemical weapon at Ypres in 1915.
• Chlorination of drinking water is one of public health's greatest advances, and chlorine is also essential to PVC plastic and household bleach.

Specifications & Metrics

• NUM: 17
• SYMBOL: Cl
• CATEGORY: Reactive Nonmetal