Is Chlorine Flammable? (Explained)

A toxic, green, gaseous chemical element, chlorine has been very significant to chemists and alchemists before them. It has an atomic number of 17 and, until 1774, was not isolated as a single substance, known as chlorine gas.

Even during that period, the scientist who separated it thought it was a different substance. But what we want to tackle is the question: is chlorine flammable? Can chlorine catch fire?

Chlorine is not flammable and will not combust. However, in certain conditions, it can react explosively or produce explosive compounds with other chemicals like turpentine and ammonia.

What Is Chlorine?

Chlorine (CI) is among the most popularly produced chemicals in the United States. It most commonly serves as a bleach in the production of paper and cloth but is also an important chemical for manufacturing pesticides, rubber, and solvents.

Chlorine is a halogen and a very reactive substance that you can never find naturally as chlorine gas, but it exists all over the earth’s crust in various compounds.

You can also apply chlorine in drinking water and swimming pools as a disinfectant and use it as part of the sanitation process for industrial waste and sewage.

During World War I, chlorine serves as a choking agent. Household chlorine bleach can emit chlorine gas if you combine it with other sanitizing agents. The manufacturing of chlorine gas requires the electrolysis of salt water, isolating the sodium and chlorine ions in the solution.

Chlorine is most commonly used in the chemical industry and for manufacturing organic chemicals like PVC (polyvinyl chloride).

Chlorine ions, in some form, are essential to the survival of almost every living organism, and humans use them to spread signals via muscles and nerves. A lack of excess of it can result in cramping and even convulsions.

Is Chlorine Flammable?

Since chlorine is among the most reactive elements, and no one will blame you for thinking it is highly flammable, its chemistry is the same as that of oxygen.

It can donate rather than receive electrons in chemical reactions. In other words, it will hardly react with oxygen, so it cannot be seen as flammable. 

Meanwhile, since fire involves rapid oxidization, it needs fuel and an oxidizer. So, chlorine is used as the oxidizer, yet it cannot combust.

In other words, it can be a part of the firing process (making the fire burn faster, hotter, and more fiercely), but it cannot be flammable. Even though it cannot technically combust, it is not still unsafe around the fire.

Can Chlorine Cause a Fire?

As we earlier discussed, chlorine is not explosive, but it makes fire faster and hotter and enhances the burning rate of other substances.

It also reacts aggressively with most organic compounds, ammonia, hydrogen, and finely separated metals, thus resulting in fire and explosion risk. The agent may light up combustibles, including wood, paper, oil, clothing, etc.

Does Chlorine Explode in Heat?

Technically, chlorine explodes in heat. For instance, when you abandon a bottle of bleach around a heated source in severe sunlight, its heat will make the bleach produce chlorine gas that eventually forces its way out of the bottle and explode.

If you mix bleach with other chemicals, it can result in the same reaction.

Can It Ever Catch On fire?

In a technical sense, due to the non-flammability of chlorine, it cannot combust. However, it doesn’t mean that wrong or careless use of chlorine cannot cause fire outbreaks.

Most reactions from chlorine processes produce unstable products that are volatile or easily catch on fire.

As we mentioned earlier, chlorine is used as an oxidizing agent to act as or complement oxygen in a fire, not the fuel. So, it cannot easily catch on fire.

What Reaction Occurs When You Mix Chlorine?

The reaction from chlorine as chlorine gas and other compounds can have severe disastrous effects. If you mix chlorine with the wrong chemicals, it can blow you up, and without immediate action, its effect could be fatal.

Again, if you mix hydrochloric acid with a chlorine compound, it will emit toxic fumes and will subsequently result in fire outbreaks that can be disastrous. Hence, it would be best if you were very careful when dealing with chlorine.

Can You Mix Shock and Chlorine?

Shock is a widely used anti-algal (anti-algae) for treating swimming pools, and it’s not difficult to purchase or use.

However, you should note that you should not simultaneously apply this anti-algal treatment to the pool as you use chlorine, as they can neutralize each other, and the algae will hardly die.

Again, it would help if you always remembered to add chlorine crystals to the water during its treatment instead of trying to apply water to the crystals, as you will be avoiding any explosion resulting from the wrong application.

What Happens if You Mix Chlorine & Diesel?

It would be a weird idea to mix chlorine and diesel, but the bleach sodium hypochlorite contains chlorine, as the former is often used for washing in garages and workshops. Sadly, using sodium hypochlorite to tidy up diesel spillage is risky, and the effects could be disastrous.

If you mix sodium hypochlorite with diesel together, it produces a violent reaction. It forms huge quantities of heat, potentially explosively, and produces pure chlorine gas, which might result in a fire hazard. 

How Much Can Chlorine Gas Kill You?

It will take very little chlorine to kill you, and if you inhale it at 30 parts per million in the air, it will result in issues like chain pains and cough and can shorten your breath.

And when it is at 60 parts per million, it can cause edema or pneumonitis in the lungs and cause sudden death.

Can Ammonia Neutralize Chlorine?

If you want to use chlorine as a disinfectant, it would be best to ensure that there is no excess ammonia inside of it because they both neutralize each other, and the chlorine is consumed even before it will stand a chance of killing off any bacteria.

Is Chlorine Toxic?

The toxicity of chlorine compounds is under probability. Drinking sodium hypochlorite bleach would be seen as madness, yet it is not a bad idea to use table salt (sodium chloride) on your dinner; hence, it can’t be seen as toxic.

However, when it comes to chlorine gas is very toxic to the extent that it has been used as a weapon of war both in the past and in recent times. It is also popularly called mustard gas because of the yellowy-green color and cloying aroma it possesses.