Dear Zach,

it sounds really mysterious;
in the very last case you could mount a fetish in your lab, as I did years
ago.
I can only whish good luck, but would be very interested, if you could solve
the problem.

In fact it sounds like some contamination. How does the surface of the salt
look like?
It changes from clear to white when exausted.

Best whishes,

Stephan in Bonn


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Stable Isotope Geochemistry [mailto:[log in to unmask]]Im
Auftrag von Zachary Sharp
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 18. Februar 2004 22:07
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: fluorine neutralization


Dear Isogeochemers,

I am at wits end and need some help.  We are having terrible trouble
neutralizing excess F2 gas from our fluorination line.  Originally, we were
having wonderful success with NaCl.  Large amounts of F2 could be reacted
to NaF + Cl2 in a matter of seconds.  Things were great for months.  Then,
we replaced our used NaCl with a  new batach and the reaction no longer
proceeds.  After replacing the NaCl, we may get it to work one time, but if
we put in a new aliquot of F2, the rates of fluorination of the salt become
painfully slow.  We have tried different temperatures of reaction, used KBr
in place of NaCl and tried different grain sizes (melted the salts,
etc.).  No matter what we do, the reaction of F2 with our salt is so slow
as to be unusable.  I'm going crazy.  It used to work, but no longer.  I
understand that the Earth's magnetic field is weakening, but I don't think
that has anything to do with it!  We've even tried a different bottle of
NaCl.  Still no success.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Zachary Sharp
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