Chlorine: historical information

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Chlorine was discovered by Carl William Scheele at 1774 in Sweden. Origin of name: from the Greek word "chloros" meaning "pale green". Further information on origin of name and discovery dates

Chlorine was discovered in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. He obtained it through the reaction of the mineral pyrolusite (manganese dioxide, MnO2) with hydrochloric acid (HCl, then known as muriatic acid). Scheele thought the resulting gas contained oxygen. Sir Humphry Davy proposed and confirmed chlorine to be an element in 1810, and he also named the element.

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chlorine atomic number