Hydrogen + Oxygen + Chlorine
From the pool to the stomach and the ozone layer
Summary
From hydrogen (H), oxygen (O) and chlorine (Cl) atoms you can make ten different substances: from stomach acid (HCl) to pool disinfectant (HClO), and from the oxidiser of space rockets (HClO₄) to chlorine gas (Cl₂), the chemical weapon of the First World War. Depending on context, the same atom both saves lives and takes them.
In depth
Chlorine is the most paradoxical element in the history of chemistry: at Ypres in 1915, as the first modern chemical weapon, it killed large numbers of soldiers, yet in the same century chlorination brought the clean drinking water revolution and saved millions of people from cholera and typhoid. Our stomach acid (HCl, pH 1–2) protects us from germs; the active ingredient of bleach (HClO) disinfects our kitchen counters; perchlorate (HClO₄) is the oxidiser in rocket propellants. The ozone hole discovered in 1985 was also the work of chlorine radicals (ClO•), and the discovery led to the Montreal Protocol. Chlorine is one of chemistry's most powerful teachers: the same atom, a different fate in a different context.
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