Who discovered chlorine?
Chlorine was discovered by Carl Scheele (1742-1786) in 1774 but it was not known as an element. Due to its strong oxidising properties it was thought by most chemists to contain oxygen and was called oxymuriatic acid (muriatic acid being HCl). It was Humphry Davy (1778-1829) who exposed the gas to white-hot carbon in an attempt to remove the oxygen as carbon dioxide. He was never able to produce oxygen or any compound known to contain oxygen, and he finally concluded that it was an element. Because of its greenish yellow colour, he called it “chlorine” after the Greek “chloros” meaning yellow-green.
