Question

What are the advantages of chlorofluorocarbons?

Answer 1

Hint: Chlorofluorocarbon are basically the compounds of methane and ethane. They are nontoxic and non-flammable chemicals having carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. They are used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays, as solvents, as refrigerants, as blowing agents for foams and packing materials.

Complete step-by-step answer:

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are gases used for various purposes such as solvents, refrigerants and aerosol sprays. These are organic chemicals which contain carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine. They were much in use in the middle 20th century, as they replaced chemicals such as ammonia which were toxic or flammable or harmful to human health. CFC’s hold many advantages over ammonia because they are unreactive, non-toxic molecules and readily liquefy upon compression.
Chlorofluorocarbons are used in multiple applications because of their low toxicity, reactivity and flammability. Some more uses are blowing agents, propellants in medicinal applications and degreasing solvents. An example of a refrigerant CFC is dichlorodifluoromethane, \[C{F_2}C{l_2}\] . Another common CFC is trichlorofluoromethane, \[CFC{l_3}\] and this was once the propellant in around half of all the aerosol cans used in the world.

Now, we know that the advantages of chlorofluorocarbons are excellent refrigerants due to their low boiling point. They are very good propellants due to their low toxicity and are useful in firefighting. These compounds are non-flammable, tasteless, odourless and are chemically stable. Some other properties are their volatility i.e. they have boiling points close to zero degrees Centigrade. These physical properties make them suitable for use as refrigerant gases in air conditioners, freezers, refrigerators, blowing agents for foam plastics, allowing the foam to expand as the liquid CFC boils.

Note: CFCs are a group of odourless manufactured chemicals and because they damage the earth’s ozone layer, they have been banned since 1996. Depletion of the Ozone Layer has a negative impact on the biodiversity of the earth. As excessive radiations hit the surface of the Earth, they will destroy agricultural productivity, plant life and can cause skin cancer in humans.