Halogen — হ্যালোজেন

Definition

The halogens — fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine — fill Group 17, each one electron short of a full shell, which makes them the most aggressive nonmetals in the table. They always travel as diatomic molecules, $\mathrm{F_{2}}$ and $\mathrm{Cl_{2}}$ and the rest, and their name means salt-maker because they pair so readily with metals: sodium and chlorine make common salt. Reactivity fades down the group — fluorine attacks almost everything, iodine is almost gentlemanly. They disinfect, bleach and, in Bangladesh, fight iodine deficiency through your iodized table salt.

For example

Your daily salt carries iodine, a halogen added on a national scale so that goitre and other iodine-deficiency diseases stay away from Bangladeshi families.

Elements this touches

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