Is Chlorine Good Or Bad?

By Owen Jones

Some individuals are extremely opposed to the addition of chlorine to tap water, even if they concur with its use in swimming pool water, but there those who oppose using it in pools as well.

However, the government must have its reasons for adding chlorine to our general water supply, so in this article, we will look at the pros and cons of chlorine.

Chlorine is an element and its name in Ancient Greek means 'light green'. It has been known for millenia and in its most ubiquitous form it is encountered as sodium chloride, which is better known as common salt. We eat it in and on our food every day. It is a food taste enhancer, but in excess, it is blamed for corpulence through water retention and high blood pressure.

Chlorine can be smelled and in its gaseous state, chlorine was used to gas soldiers in the trenches of the First World War. However, chlorine comes in numerous compounds and even compounds of compounds and so is easy to get confused.

It is an oxidizer and consequently can be used as a bleach and thus as a disinfectant. Hence its use in swimming pools and toilets. Then again, it has also been blamed for rising into the upper atmosphere and thinning the ozone layer.

The fact of the matter is that, in its most natural, pure, elemental form, chlorine is highly poisonous, but on the other hand, it is necessary to most types of life including human life. In short, it is a hazardous but necessary chemical.

Hydrochloric acid is one of the most dangerous acids on the planet but has many industrial uses, such as the production of some plastics and food additives, good and bad.

Without hydrochloric acid in your stomach, you would have a hard time digesting your food because it is a small but crucial percentage of your stomach acid.

Chlorine binds with most items to make compounds and so it is no shock that it forms compounds with minerals leached from the earth by rivers and finds its way down to the sea.

Chlorine is responsible, in compounds, for the salty taste of the sea and thereby the cleanliness of the sea despite all the natural waste that is put it in by fish and mammals. It maintains their environment in a condition that can support life. Mankind has lived off the produce of the sea for tens of thousands of years.

Chlorine is used in our potable water in the guise of hypochlorous acid. As a killer of bacteria, chlorine is six times more powerful than iodine. Having said that, it reacts badly with proteins like human skin and hair, because it is a vigorous oxidizer.

Being such a strong oxidizer also means that it may be used to form explosive mixtures which is why people are normally told on the containers not to combine disinfectant compounds at home.

About the Author:

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Insect Exterminator problems. If you would like to know more, go over to our website at Bugs Infestation.