This element is not currently sponsored. To sponsor this element yourself, please contact Michelle Saxton, Dept. Chlorine, a member of the halogen group, is only found in its combined state in nature.
Chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas that can be combined directly with nearly every element.
Most of the chlorine produced is used in the manufacture of chlorinated compounds for sanitation, pulp bleaching, disenfectants, and textile processing. Chlorine is also used to produce safe drinking water, and even the smallest water supplies are usually chlorinated. Chlorine is very useful in organic chemistry, especially as an oxidizing agent and in substitiution reactions. Chlorine gas is a respiratory irritant that irritates the mucous membranes, and the liquid burns the skin. Chlorine gas was used as a war gas in 1915 since very small amounts of chlorine gas can be fatal.