15 November: Chlorine

On this date in 1810 Humphrey Davy announced his discovery that Chlorine is an element. 10 things you may not know about that element:

1. Its atomic number is 17, its chemical symbol is Cl and it belongs to the halogen family of elements.
2. It was first discovered in 1774 by a scientist called Carl Wilhelm Scheele, but he believed the gas he collected from hydrochloric acid (or muriatic acid, as he would have known it) was a compound and contained Oxygen. He called his discovery muriaticum.
3. Sir Humphrey Davy proved, over 30 years later, that it was an element, with no oxygen in it.
4. Davey named the element chlorine after the Greek word chloros, meaning a yellow-green colour. Chlorine is a Yellow gas.
5. Its Melting Point is −101.5 °C/ −150.7 °F and its boiling point is −34.04 °C/ −29.27 °F.
6. Chlorine is the third most abundant element in the Earth’s oceans, the 21st most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and the ninth most abundant element in the human body.
7. That said, it’s pretty toxic stuff. It reacts with the mucous membranes and can burn the skin. Concentrations around 1000 parts per million would kill a person if they breathe it in. Hence it was one of the first chemical weapons, used in the first world war. Since it is heavier than air, it would collect in trenches. The reason there’s so much of it in the human body is because, as a compound with sodium, it makes an essential substance in our diet – sodium chloride, otherwise known as table Salt.
8. Chlorine is used in the manufacture of a multitude of products such as plastics, Paper, medicine, insecticides, disinfectants, textiles, dyes and petroleum products. It is commercially extracted by electrolysis from brine solutions.
9. Chlorine will form compounds with most elements in the periodic table, except for the inert noble gases and heavy, unstable elements.
10. It has been used as a disinfectant for many years, including being added to the water in public swimming pools. However, the distinctive smell you get on your skin after swimming in a pool isn’t chlorine, but chloromine, a compound which is produced when chlorine reacts with the proteins in your Hair and skin.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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