Chlorine Talk: Oxidizers

So now that I've glanced over one of the most common applications of chlorine, I thought I'd provide a bit more information on the chemical nature of chlorine itself.

Chlorine is a part of a group of chemicals called oxidizers. Basically, this means that in a chemical reaction, chlorine pulls electrons off of surrounding elements, just like oxygen does in a fire. In fact, fire is nothing more than oxygen pulling electrons from fuel (like wood) when exposed to a heat source greater than the fuel's flash point, which is a term that refers to the temperature at which our fuel is no longer stable and becomes combustible. Charcoal has a high flash point, which is why lighter fluid (which has a low flash point) is used to heat the charcoal up to its own flash point and burn of its own accord, rather than with the support of the lighter fluid. A flame is the result of some of the heat (energy) from the combustion being transferred to the electrons that the oxygen pulled off the fuel. These electrons then release the energy in the form of light. 

So now we know what an oxidizer does and that oxygen is usually the oxidizer regarding fire. Chlorine can act as an oxidizer instead of oxygen. For example, hydrogen can burn in chlorine. The hydrogen acts as the fuel (and it's very good at this, just look at the Hindenburg), and the chlorine is the oxidizer. Incidentally, the result of this reaction  produces gaseous hydrogen chloride, also known as hydrochloric acid, which I shall discuss in further detail in another post.

As an oxidizer, chlorine is not flammable by itself, but it can cause other materials to combust. So if I were to hold a flame up to some pure chlorine, it would not ignite; however, if I held a flame up to some hair spray (outside of the can, of course) it would instantly combust (that's right, hair spray is quite flammable) which is why hair spray cans have flammability warnings on them.

Oxidizers are also important in explosives, which work in much the same way as fire does; instead of burning over a period of time, explosives release their energy all at once. 

Finally, oxidizers are one of the primary culprits behind corrosion. Oxidizers, again, usually oxygen, reacts with a metal, such as iron, to produce a salt and iron oxide, which is brittle and easily snapped. When a bit of metal oxides to much, it snaps, which can cause structures to collapse. This is what caused the silver bridge to collapse in 1967.