Facts about Chlorine

Chlorine is an element with atomic weight 35.5 and atomic number 17. Chlorine exists as a gas, which is yellowish, green in color and has a strong pungent smell. It is a toxic gas, which can be pressurized and cooled to convert into a liquid so that it can be transported. Chlorine Gas is a heavy gas whose density is two and half times more than air. The gas is water-soluble and is mostly found in ocean waters and dried up lake beds and underground salt deposits. All the living things need chlorine but more than required can be harmful. Chlorine has a strong bleaching effect as it a powerful oxidant.

Uses and Advantages of Chlorine

As stated that chlorine is a powerful oxidant and a strong bleaching agent, it is used for industrial uses and mainly for paper and cloth industries. They are also used to disinfect and purify water- both drinking water and water of the swimming pools since Chlorine destroys harmful bacteria. Chlorine because f its potential to disinfect also is used for the sanitation of waste and sewage that comes out of the industries. You can validate this by checking the disinfectant at your house and you will see that it also contains a small percentage of Chlorine if not more. Chlorine is also used in the manufacturing of pesticides, solvents and rubber. Chlorine gas is also used in refrigerants and being an important chemical, it is also used as an example to show the characteristics of halogens.

How can Chlorine be Harmful?

Chlorine is corrosive gas, which reacts with the hydrogen of water in the tissues of living tings and releases nascent oxygen. This nascent oxygen and the hydrogen compound that is formed, precisely Hydrogen Chloride have the potential to harm the tissues. Not only that the resultant compound of Chlorine also has the potential to enter the cells and destroy the constituents of the cell. So whenever a plant, an animal or a human being is exposed to chlorine, there are fair chances that it might have to go through all this if the exposure occurs for a considerable period of time.

How are living things exposed to Chlorine?

Both spoil and water can have chlorine, which can be passed on to a plant, an animal or a human being. Chlorine has the potential to be fatal if the intake is in sufficient quantities. So if Chlorine is in air it can be inhaled by life forms, similarly if it is in a dissolved form even then plants and animals alike can consume it. Chlorine can also be there is the food that human consumed since it could have been cooked in Chlorine rich water. Being heavier and denser than air it always remains at the lower levels of atmosphere, which is the air that life forms inhale.

What are the Signs of Chlorine Poisoning?

Chlorine Poisoning can be severe and as soon as the following symptoms are seen with a probability that ist can be a case of Chlorine Poisoning, the victim has to be taken to a doctor immediately:

• Watery eyes
• Queasy feeling
• Tendency to Vomit
• Burning sensation, redness and blisters on the skin.
• Difficulty in Breathing
• Burning sensation in the throat and nose.
• Blurring of Vision
• Coughing and Choking