fluorides. The aqueous solution is strongly acid to litmus and dissolves most metals directly. Its most important property is that it rapidly attacks glass, reacting with the silica of the glass to form gaseous silicon fluoride, and consequently it is used for etching. T. E. Thorpe (Jour. Chem. Soc., 1889, 55, p. 163) determined the vapour density of hydrofluoric acid at different temperatures, and showed that there is no approach to a definite value below about 88° C. where it reaches the value 10.29 corresponding to the molecular formula HF; at temperatures below 88° C. the value increases rapidly, showing that the molecule is more complex in its structure. (For references see J. N. Friend, The Theory of Valency (1909), p. 111.) The aqueous solution behaves on concentration similarly to the other halogen acids; E. Deussen (Zeit. anorg. Chem., 1905, 44, pp. 300, 408; 1906, 49, p. 297) found the solution of constant boiling point to contain 43.2% HF and to boil at 110° (750 mm.).
The salts of hydrofluoric acid are known as fluorides and are easily obtained by the action of the acid on metals or their oxides, hydroxides or carbonates. The fluorides of the alkali metals, of silver, and of most of the heavy metals are soluble in water; those of the alkaline earths are insoluble. A characteristic property of the alkaline fluorides is their power of combining with a molecule of hydrofluoric acid and with the fluorides of the more electro-negative elements to form double fluorides, a behaviour not shown by other metallic halides. Fluorides can be readily detected by their power of etching glass when warmed with sulphuric acid; or by warming them in a glass tube with concentrated sulphuric acid and holding a moistened glass rod in the mouth of the tube, the water apparently gelatinizes owing to the decomposition of the silicon fluoride formed. The atomic weight of fluorine has been determined by the conversion of calcium, sodium and potassium fluorides into the corresponding sulphates. J. Berzelius, by converting silver fluoride into silver chloride, obtained the value 19.44, and by analysing calcium fluoride the value 19.16; the more recent work of H. Moissan gives the value 19.05.
See H. Moissan, Le Fluor et ses composes (Paris, 1900).
FLUOR-SPAR, native calcium fluoride (CaF2), known also
as Fluorite or simply Fluor. In France it is called fluorine,
whilst the term fluor is applied to the element (F). All these
terms, from the Lat. fluere, “to flow,” recall the fact that the spar
is useful as a flux in certain metallurgical operations. (Cf. its
Ger. name Flussspat or Fluss.)
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| Fig. 1. | Fig. 2. |
Fluor-spar crystallizes in the cubic system, commonly in cubes, either alone or combined with the octahedron, rhombic dodecahedron, four-faced cube, &c. The four-faced cube has been called the fluoroid. In fig. 1, a is the cube (100), d the rhombic dodecahedron (110), and f the four-faced cube (310). Fig. 2 shows a characteristic twin of interpenetrant cubes. The crystals are sometimes polysynthetic, a large octahedron, e.g., being built up of small cubes. The faces are often etched or corroded. Cleavage is nearly always perfect, parallel to the octahedron.
Fluor-spar has a hardness of 4, so that it is scratched by a knife, though not so readily as calcite. Its specific gravity is about 3.2. The colour is very variable, and often beautiful, but the mineral is too soft for personal decoration, though it forms a handsome material for vases, &c. In some fluor-spar the colour is disposed in bands, regularly following the contour of the crystal. As the colour is usually expelled, or much altered, by heat, it is believed to be due to an organic pigment, and the presence of hydrocarbons has been detected in many specimens by G. Wyrouboff, and other observers. H. W. Morse (Proc. Amer. Acad., 1906, p. 587) obtained carbon monoxide and dioxide, hydrogen and nitrogen and small quantities of oxygen from Weardale specimens by heating. He concluded that the gases are due to the decomposition of an organic colouring matter, which has, however, no connexion with the fluorescence or thermo-luminescence of the mineral. Certain crystals from Cumberland are beautifully fluorescent, appearing purple with a bluish internal haziness by reflected light, and greenish by transmitted light. Fluor-spar, though cubic, sometimes exhibits weak double refraction, probably due to internal tension. Many kinds of fluor-spar are thermo-luminescent, i.e. they glow on exposure to a moderate heat, and the name of chlorophane has been given to a variety which exhibits a green glow. The mineral also phosphoresces under the Röntgen rays. Cavities containing liquid occasionally occur in crystals of fluor-spar, notably in the greasy green cubes of Weardale in Durham. A dark violet fluor-spar from Wölsendorf in Bavaria, evolves an odour of ozone when struck, and has been called antozonite. Ozone is also emitted by a violet fluor-spar from Quincié, dep. Rhône, France. In both cases the spar evolves free fluorine, which ozonizes the air.
Fluor-spar is largely employed by the metallurgist, especially in lead-smelting, and in the production of ferro-silicon and ferro-manganese. It is also used in iron and brass foundries, and has been found useful as a flux for certain gold-ores and in the reduction of aluminium. It is used as a source of hydrofluoric acid, which it evolves when heated with sulphuric acid. The mineral is also used in the production of opal glass and enamel ware. In consequence of its low refractive and dispersive power, colourless pellucid fluor-spar is valuable in the construction of apochromatic lenses, but this variety is rare. The dark violet fluor-spar of Derbyshire, known locally as “Blue John,” is prized for ornamental purposes. It occurs almost exclusively at Tray Cliff, near Castleton. The dark purple spar, called by the workmen “bull beef,” may be changed, by heat, to a rich amethystine tint. Being very brittle, the spar is rather difficult to work on the lathe, and is often toughened by means of resin. F. Corsi, the eminent Italian antiquary, held that fluor-spar was the material of the famous murrhine vases.
Fluor-spar is a mineral of very wide distribution. Some of the finest crystals occur in the lead-veins of the Carboniferous Limestone series in the north of England, especially at Weardale, Allendale and Alston Moor. It is also found in the lead and copper-mines of Cornwall and S. Devon, notably near Liskeard, where fine crystals have been found, with faces of the six-faced octahedron replacing the corners of the cube. In Cornwall fluor-spar is known to the miners as “cann.” Fine yellow fluor-spar occurs in some of the Saxon mines, and beautiful rose-red octahedra are found in the Alps, near Göschenen. Many localities in the United States yield fluor-spar, and it is worked commercially in a few places, notably at Rosiclare in southern Illinois.
FLUSHING, formerly a township and a village of Queens county,
New York, U.S.A., on Long Island, at the head of Flushing
Bay, since the 1st of January 1898 a part of the borough of
Queens, New York City. Flushing is served by the Long Island
railroad and by electric lines. It was settled in 1644 by a company
of English non-conformists who had probably been residents of
Flushing in Holland, from which the new place took its name.
Subsequently a large number of Quakers settled here, and in
1672 George Fox spent some time in the township. Before the
War of Independence Flushing was the country-seat of many rich
New Yorkers and colonial officials.
FLUSHING (Dutch Vlissingen), a fortified seaport in the
province of Zeeland, Holland, on the south side of the island of
Walcheren, at the mouth of the estuary of the western Scheldt,
4 m. by rail S. by W. of Middelburg, with which it is also connected
by steam tramway and by a ship canal. There is a steam
ferry to Breskens and Ter Neuzen on the coast of Zeeland-Flandres.
Pop. (1900) 18,893. An important naval station
and fortress up to 1867, Flushing has since aspired, under the
care of the Dutch government, to become a great commercial
port. In 1872 the railway was opened which, in conjunction
