In 1774, German-Swedish chemist Carl William Scheele conducted and experiment wherein he reacted manganese dioxide and hydrochloric acid, which was then known as muriatic acid. He collected the gas produced and described it as “having a very perceptible suffocating smell, most oppressive to the lungs and gives the water a slightly acidic taste.” (1774). He also observed that it was very reactive and possessed bleaching properties. This was the discovery of chlorine. However, he documented it as a compound of oxygen and the French scientist Antoine Lavoisier suggested that it be called oxymuriatic acid. Later in 1811, English chemist Sir Humphry Davy found that the gas did not contain oxygen through reactions between phosphorous and ammonia.…show more content… It is the sixth most common element on the Earth’s crust, but is never found freely. This is because as a halogen, when not in a diatomic molecule, chlorine atoms easily react with other elements and to form covalent bonds. Consequently, there are over two thousand naturally occurring chlorine compounds. The most common compound, however, is found in rock salt and has been known for years; sodium chloride, or ‘table…show more content… It was first used commercially because of its immense cleansing power and its efficiency as a disinfectant which was discovered in the 19th Century. While a gut factory was being cleansed, Antoine-Germain Labaraque, a French chemist and pharmacist, discovered that chlorine bleach solutions eliminated the smell of putrefaction and slowed down the process itself. After a few years, chlorine compounds were used to disinfect a variety of objects among which were hospitals, cattle sheds and infected wounds in patients. However, scientists did not know how the compounds worked; they simply understood that it destroyed the means of disease transfer. They discovered the microbes that were killed nearly fifty years
