What is the difference between fluoride and hydrogen fluoride

Workers may have finished work and returned home before the pain hits them and they realize that something is wrong. Fingernails not properly scrubbed can be a problem. Even weak solutions of hydrofluoric acid will rapidly penetrate the skin, destroying the soft tissue and bone underneath. For these reason a neutralizing agent the calcium gluconate gel , which will also penetrate the skin, needs to be applied after the skin is washed.

Eye Contact: Hydrofluoric acid fumes can dry out the eyes and cause a burning sensation, redness and secretions. Splashing into the eyes may cause severe and irreversible damage that permanently affects the person's sight. Inhalation: Fumes are corrosive and irritating to the respiratory tract and all mucosal tissue. Symptoms include lacrimation, cough, labored breathing, and excessive salivary and sputum formation. Excessive irritation causes chemical pneumonitis and pulmonary edema which could be fatal.

Fluoride is deposited in the bone fluorosis , and may cause pain and stiffness in joints and limbs. There is no evidence that hydrogen fluoride exposure causes cancer. There is inconclusive animal data about toxic effects to a fetus. Labs using HF in any concentration should have an HF first aid kit containing, at minimum, the following items:.

Other products are available for treatment of HF exposure. Contact REM with any questions about HF safety and what would be best to use in specific circumstances.

Immediately call if exposure to HF occurs. While waiting for medical response, the following steps should occur. As an employee, you must take reasonable care to protect your own safety and the safety of others in your workplace. When you are using hydrofluoric acid:. Purdue Police Phone: Its largest use is in the manufacture of fluorocarbons, which are used as refrigerants, solvents, and aerosols.

For more information on the chemical properties of fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine, and their production and use, see Chapters 4 and 5. What happens to fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine when they enter the environment? Fluorides occur naturally in the earth's crust where they are found in rocks, coal, clay, and soil. They are released into the air in wind-blown soil. Hydrogen fluoride is released to the air from fluoride-containing substances, including coal, minerals, and clays, when they are heated to high temperatures.

This may occur in coal-fired power plants; aluminum smelters; phosphate fertilizer plants; glass, brick, and tile works; and plastics factories. These facilities may also release fluorides attached to particles. The biggest natural source of hydrogen fluoride and other fluorides released to the air is volcanic eruptions. Fluorine cannot be destroyed in the environment; it can only change its form.

Fluorides released into the atmosphere from volcanoes, power plants, and other high temperature processes are usually hydrogen fluoride gas or attached to very small particles.

Fluorides contained in wind-blown soil are generally found in larger particles. These particles settle to the ground or are washed out of the air by rain.

Fluorides that are attached to very small particles may stay in the air for many days. Hydrogen fluoride gas will be absorbed by rain and into clouds and fog to form aqueous hydrofluoric acid, which will fall to the ground mainly in precipitation.

The fluorides released into air will eventually fall on land or water. In water, fluorides associate with various elements present in the water, mainly with aluminum in freshwater and calcium and magnesium in seawater, and settle into the sediment where they are strongly attached to sediment particles.

When deposited on land, fluorides are strongly retained by soil, forming strong associations with soil components. Leaching removes only a small amount of fluorides from soils. Fluorides may be taken up from soil and accumulate in plants, or they may be deposited on the upper parts of the plants in dust.

The amount of fluoride taken up by plants depends on the type of plant, the nature of the soil, and the amount and form of fluoride in the soil. Tea plants are known to accumulate fluoride in their leaves. Animals that eat fluoride-containing plants may accumulate fluoride. However, the fluoride accumulates primarily in the bones or shell rather than in edible meat. For more information about what happens to fluorides in the environment, see Chapter 6. How might I be exposed to fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine?

Fluoride is a natural component of the earth's crust and soil. Small amounts of fluorides are present in water, air, plants, and animals. You may be exposed to small amounts of fluoride by breathing air, drinking water, and eating food. In particular, fluorides are frequently added to drinking water supplies at approximately 1 part of fluoride per million parts of water ppm and to toothpaste and mouth rinses to prevent dental decay.

Analytical methods used by scientists to determine the levels of fluoride in the environment generally do not determine the specific form of fluoride present. Therefore, we do not always know the form of fluoride that a person may be exposed to. Similarly, we do not know what forms of fluoride are present at hazardous waste sites. Some forms of fluoride may be insoluble or so tightly attached to particles or embedded in minerals that they are not taken up by plants or animals.

Fluorides are normally found in very small amounts in the air. Rural areas have even lower levels. The amount of fluoride that you breathe in a day is much less than what you consume in food and water. You may breathe in higher levels of fluoride in areas near coal-fired power plants or fluoride-related industries e. Levels of fluorides in surface water average about 0. Levels of fluorides in well water generally range from 0. Many communities fluoridate their water supplies; the recommended level of fluoride is around 1 ppm.

In the United States, approximately 15, water systems serving about million people are fluoridated in the optimal range of 0.

Persons living in non-fluoridated areas may receive water exposure through beverages and foods processed in fluoridated areas. You will be exposed to fluorides in the water that you drink or in beverages prepared with fluoridated water.

The concentration of fluorides in soils is usually between and ppm. However, levels may be higher in areas containing fluoride-containing mineral deposits. Higher levels may also occur where phosphate fertilizers are used, where coal-fired power plants or fluoride-releasing industries are located, or in the vicinity of hazardous waste sites. You may be exposed to fluorides through dermal contact with these soils. You may also be exposed to fluorides in your diet.

While food generally contains low levels of fluoride, food grown in areas where soils have high amounts of fluorides or where phosphate fertilizers are used may have higher levels of fluorides. Tea and some seafoods have been found to have high levels of fluorides. The average daily fluoride intake by adults from food and water is estimated to be 1 milligram mg if you live in a community with You may also be exposed to higher levels of fluoride if you work in industries where fluoride-containing substances are used, most notably in the electronics industry where hydrogen fluoride may be used to etch glass in TV picture tubes or to clean silicon chips and in aluminum and phosphate fertilizer plants.

Exposure will primarily result from breathing in hydrogen fluoride or fluoride-containing dust. Exposure will be reduced if exhaust systems or protective masks are used in the workplace. For more information on how you can be exposed to fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, or fluorine, see Chapter 6. How can fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine enter and leave my body? Generally, most of the fluoride in food or water that you swallow enters your bloodstream quickly through the digestive tract.

However, the amount that enters your bloodstream also depends on factors such as how much of the fluoride you swallowed, how well the fluoride dissolves in water, whether you ate or drank recently, and what you ate or drank. Factors such as age and health status affect what happens to the fluoride ion once it is in your body. After entering your body, about half of the fluoride leaves the body quickly in urine, usually within 24 hours unless large amounts 20 mg or more, which is the amount in 20 or more liters of optimally fluoridated water are ingested.

Most of the fluoride ion that stays in your body is stored in your bones and teeth. When you breathe in air containing hydrogen fluoride or fluoride dusts, it enters your bloodstream quickly through your lungs. When hydrofluoric acid touches skin, most of it can quickly pass through the skin into the blood. How much of it enters your bloodstream depends on how concentrated the hydrofluoric acid is and how long it stays on your skin.

Almost all of the fluoride that enters the body in these ways is quickly removed from the body in the urine, but some is stored in your bones and teeth. When you breathe in air containing fluorine, fluoride can enter your bloodstream through your lungs, but it is not known how quickly this happens. Much of the fluoride leaves your body in urine, but some is stored in your bones and teeth. Exposure to fluorine gas is uncommon, except in industrial settings.

For more information on how fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine enter and leave your body, see Chapter 3. How can fluorides, hydrogen fluoride, and fluorine affect my health?

To protect the public from the harmful effects of toxic chemicals and to find ways to treat people who have been harmed, scientists use many tests. One way to see if a chemical will hurt people is to learn how the chemical is absorbed, used, and released by the body; for some chemicals, animal testing may be necessary. Animal testing may also be used to identify health effects such as cancer or birth defects.

Without laboratory animals, scientists would lose a basic method to get information needed to make wise decisions to protect public health.

Scientists have the responsibility to treat research animals with care and compassion. Laws today protect the welfare of research animals, and scientists must comply with strict animal care guidelines and must be recertified regularly with training in updated and new guidelines.

Several medicines that contain fluoride are used for treating skin diseases e. Skin contact or inhalation of hydrofluoric acid can cause moderate to severe health effects. Hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid must be used and handled in accordance with applicable risk management practices.

The U. Sixty percent of the hydrogen fluoride used in the manufacture of refrigerants. Hydrogen fluoride is also used industrially to make products such as gasoline, aluminum, plastics, electrical components such as TVs and computer screens, stainless steel and incandescent light bulbs.

Hydrogen fluoride typically refers to a gas, used in the production of refrigerants, high-octane gasoline, aluminum, plastics, electrical components and incandescent light bulbs.

When hydrogen fluoride is dissolved in water, it creates hydrofluoric acid, which is used in stainless steel pickling, glass etching, metal coatings, uranium isotope extraction and quartz purification.

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