Industrial uses of the halogens

Vinyl chloride can then be polymerized to make polyvinyl chloride or PVC, 

Strength as an oxidizing agent. There is, however, pressure to reduce the use of chlorine gas and organochlorine compounds, because they can lead to the environmental release of chlorinated hydrocarbons, which may cause cancer and other kinds of adverse health effects. The danger compounds include the notorious dioxin (Structure 6.2), which is a degradation product of organochlorine pesticides and other similar compounds. 

The pattern for bromine use is similar to that of chlorine, but on a much smaller scale bromine production is about one per cent that of chlorine. Fluorine production is smaller still and is consumed mainly in the nuclear industry for the manufacture of uranium hexafluoride, UF6. Natural uranium is 99.3% and only 0.7% 

Most nuclear reactors require fuel that contains a higher percentage of (2-5%), and this change is brought about by methods that require the uranium to be in a gaseous form. UF6 is gaseous above 64 °C, despite the presence of the very heavy uranium atom. 

H The sheath of surrounding fluorine atoms, which gives the molecule a low polarizability and hence weakens intermolecular forces (Section 4.5). 

---

Chlorine is the most industrially useful of the halogens. In 2008, total production was 21 billion pounds, making it one of the top ten most produced chemicals in the United States —- (Section 1.1). Unlike fluorine, chlorine reacts slowly with water to form relatively stable aqueous solutions of HCl and HOCl (hypochlorous acid) ... 

---