Bromine (Br), chemical element, a deep red noxious liquid, and a member of the halogen elements, or Group 17 (Group VIIa) of the periodic table. A rare element, bromine is found in nature dispersed throughout Earth’s crust only in compounds as soluble and insoluble bromides. Some enrichment occurs in ocean water (65 parts per million by weight), in the Dead Sea (approximately 5 grams per litre [0.7 ounce per gallon]), in some thermal springs, and in rare insoluble silver bromide minerals (such as bromyrite, found in Mexico and Chile). Continue reading from Encyclopedia Britannica
Bromine was discovered in 1826 by the French chemist Antoine-Jérôme Balard in the residues (bitterns) from the manufacture of sea salt at Montpellier. He liberated the element by passing chlorine through an aqueous solution of the residues, which contained magnesium bromide. Distillation of the material with manganese dioxide and sulfuric acid produced red vapours, which condensed to a dark liquid. The similarity of this procedure to that for making chlorine suggested to Balard that he had obtained a new element similar to chlorine. (The German chemist Justus von Liebig appears to have obtained the element before Balard, but he wrongly considered it to be iodine chloride.) Because of the bad odour of the element, the French Academy of Sciences suggested the name bromine, from the Greek word bromos, meaning “bad smell” or “stench.” Continue reading from Encyclopedia Britannica
Bromine is a fairly abundant element but has a rare property: it is the only nonmetal to exist in liquid form at room temperature, and one of only two elements (the other being mercury) that is liquid at room temperature and pressure. Bromine is hazardous. It is corrosive to human tissue in its liquid state, and it irritates eyes and the throat and is highly toxic when inhaled in a vapor state. Bromine has a large variety of uses including in agricultural chemicals, insecticides, dyes, pharmaceuticals, flame-retardants, furniture foam, gasoline, plastic casings for electronics, and film photography. Ancient civilizations produced an expensive purple dye from organic bromine compounds secreted from the murex, a sea mussel. Continue reading from LiveScience
