FLUORINE

Of all of the 80 or so stable elements not many of them present challenge for the element collector. But fluorine is an element which by nature very much does present a challenge, what with its crusade for electrons which stops nearly at nothing, not even the noble gases with which it will produce difluoride [okay, only the heavier nobles, but still]. Fluorine reacts with nearly all substances, of which glass is one of them. Depending on the way you look at it, the sample of fluorine in this ampoule is either as pure as it can be or not very pure at all. The gas mixture contained in the ampoule is 30 parts fluorine to 70 parts helium. So it can be seen as a mixture of two gases. But then, it is not like the fluorine reacts with the helium. And then some of the other elements in my collection are stored under a noble gas too to keep them inert - tellurium, rubidium and thorium all come to mind. So from that angle you could say this is a sample of fluorine within an inert atmosphere. This sample was obtained in July of 2025.

It is theoretically possible to create a container which could contain fluorine; namely by using calcium fluoride which should do the job of keeping fluorine happy. And there are some dry quartz ampoules you can buy online with prices in the £££s which contain small concentrations of pure fluorine. At one time I desired one of these, only to hear from others that you can't really see the F2 inside. Fluorine has a pale yellow colour, but it's only a colour really visible if you have F2 in high concentration, likely higher concentration than you should want for an element collection and not desire to harm the household pets. The colour is one tenth the intensity of that of chlorine, whose colour ideally needs a white background to make it really obvious. And since fluorine is a tenth of that intensity... really if you want to see fluorine with your own bare eyes consider a career working with fluorochemicals where you can cool fluorine into its liquid state where its colour truly is obvious.