Glass consists of certain compounds of silicon, which are likewise acted on by the acid so that it cannot be kept in glass bottles. It is preserved in flasks made of wax or gutta-percha.
Etching. Advantage is taken of this reaction in etching designs upon glass. The glass vessel is painted over with a protective paint upon which the acid will not act, the parts which it is desired to make opaque being left unprotected. A mixture of fluorspar and sulphuric acid is then painted over the vessel and after a few minutes the vessel is washed clean. Wherever the hydrofluoric acid comes in contact with the glass it acts upon it, destroying its luster and making it opaque, so that the exposed design will be etched upon the clear glass. Frosted glass globes are often made in this way.
The etching may also be effected by covering the glass with a thin layer of paraffin, cutting the design through the wax and then exposing the glass to the fumes of the acid.
Salts of hydrofluoric acid,—fluorides. A number of the fluorides are known, but only one of them, calcium fluoride (CaF2), is of importance. This is the well-known mineral fluorspar.
CHLORINE
Historical. While studying the action of hydrochloric acid upon the mineral pyrolusite, in 1774, Scheele obtained a yellowish, gaseous substance to which he gave a name in keeping with the phlogiston theory then current. Later it was supposed to be a compound containing oxygen. In 1810, however, the English chemist Sir Humphry Davy proved it to be an element and named it chlorine.
Occurrence. Chlorine does not occur free in nature, but its compounds are widely distributed. For the most part it occurs in combination with the metals in the form of chlorides, those of sodium, potassium, and magnesium being most abundant. Nearly all salt water contains these substances, particularly sodium chloride, and very large salt beds consisting of chlorides are found in many parts of the world.
Preparation. Two general methods of preparing chlorine may be mentioned, namely, the laboratory method and the electrolytic method.
1. Laboratory method. In the laboratory chlorine is made by warming the mineral pyrolusite (manganese dioxide, MnO2) with concentrated hydrochloric acid. The first reaction, which seems to be similar to the action of acids upon oxides in general, is expressed in the equation
MnO2 + 4HCl = MnCl4 + 2H2O.