Question

What does the term ‘halogen’ mean? List the symbols and atomic numbers of all known halogens including the one recently discovered and named.

Answer 1

Step 1 : Meaning of Halogen

• The word halogen is derived from two Greek words, ‘hal’ meaning salt and ‘gen’ meaning to produce.
• Thus, Halogens are salt-forming elements when it reacts with metals.
• There are six halogens in the group $17$ of the periodic table.
• It is the only group having elements with three main states of matter.

Step 2: List of halogens:

The list of halogens with their symbol and atomic numbers are,

Element	Symbol	Atomic number
Fluorine	F	9
Chlorine	Cl	17
Bromine	Br	35
Iodine	I	53
Astatine	At	85
Tennessine	Ts	117

The last one, Tennessine (Ts), is the recently discovered halogen in this list.