Question

Name the halogen that is used as a germicide and disinfectant.

Answer 1

Hint: The halogens are a group of five or six chemically related elements in the periodic table: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At). Tennessine (Ts), an artificially created element, may also be a halogen. This group is known as group 17 in modern IUPAC nomenclature.

Complete answer:
The word "halogen" comes from the Greek word for "salt-producing." When halogens react with metals, a variety of salts are formed, including calcium fluoride, sodium chloride (common table salt), silver bromide, and potassium iodide.

In terms of general chemical behaviour and the properties of their compounds with other elements, the halogen elements bear striking similarities. However, there is a progressive change in properties from fluorine to astatine via chlorine, bromine, and iodine, with the difference between two successive elements being most noticeable with fluorine and chlorine. Fluorine is the most reactive of the halogens, and indeed of all elements, and it possesses additional properties that distinguish it from the other halogens.

Halogens are used in a variety of industries, including chemical, water, and sanitation, plastics, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, textile, military, and oil. Chemical intermediates, bleaching agents, and disinfectants are bromine, chlorine, fluorine, and iodine.

The most well-known halogen element is chlorine. The free element is commonly used as a water purifier and in a variety of chemical processes. Of course, table salt, sodium chloride, is one of the most well-known chemical compounds. Fluorides are best known for being added to municipal water supplies to prevent tooth decay, but organic fluorides are also used as refrigerants and lubricants. Iodine is best known as an antiseptic, whereas bromine is mostly used to make bromine compounds, which are used in flame retardants and general pesticides. Previously, ethylene dibromide was widely used as an additive in leaded gasoline.

Thus, Chlorine is used as a germicide and disinfectant.

Note: Some of the most commonly used chemical disinfectants are chlorine, calcium and sodium hypochlorite, iodophor, phenol, ethanol, and quaternary ammonium compounds. Disinfectants, as opposed to sterilants, have a lower efficacy against dormant bacterial endospores. Household bleach (chlorine as sodium hypochlorite) is effective against the majority of microorganisms, including bacterial spores, and can be used as a disinfectant or sanitiser depending on the concentration.