- Freon
-
/free"on/, Trademark.a brand name for any of a class of liquid or gaseous fluorocarbon or chlorofluorocarbon products, used chiefly as refrigerants.
* * *
Trademark for any of several organic compounds containing fluorine (fluorocarbons) and sometimes chlorine (chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs).Nonflammable, nontoxic, and noncorrosive, they have low boiling points, which makes them useful as refrigerants. By the mid-1970s they were in wide use in refrigeration and air conditioning systems, as blowing agents for plastic foams, as fire-extinguishing agents, and in aerosol sprays. Evidence has accumulated that decomposition of CFCs in the stratosphere destroys ozone there (see ozone layer), so most of their uses have been banned. International agreements signed by most of the industrialized countries have called for the phasing out of CFC use.* * *
(trademark), any of several simple fluorinated aliphatic organic compounds (organic compound) that are used in commerce and industry. In addition to fluorine and carbon, Freons often contain hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine. The name Freon is a trademark registered by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont Company).The Freons are colourless, odourless, nonflammable, noncorrosive gases or liquids of low toxicity that were introduced as refrigerants in the 1930s; they also proved useful as propellants for aerosols and in numerous technical applications. Their low boiling points (boiling point), low surface tension, and low viscosity make them especially useful refrigerants. They are extremely stable, inert compounds. The Freons neither present a fire hazard nor give off a detectable odour in their circulation through refrigerating and air-conditioning systems. The most important members of the group have been dichlorodifluoromethane (Freon 12), trichlorofluoromethane (Freon 11), chlorodifluoromethane (Freon 22), dichlorotetrafluoroethane (Freon 114), and trichlorotrifluoroethane (Freon 113).In the mid-1970s, photochemical dissociation of Freons and related chlorofluorocarbons (chlorofluorocarbon) (CFCs) was implicated as a major cause of the apparent degradation of the Earth's ozone layer. Depletion of the ozone could create a threat to animal life on the Earth because ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation that can induce skin cancer. The use of Freons in aerosol-spray containers was banned in the United States in the late 1970s. By the early 1990s, accumulating evidence of ozone depletion in the polar regions had heightened worldwide public alarm over the problem, and by 1996 most of the developed nations had banned production of nearly all Freons. See also chlorofluorocarbon.Francis A. Carey* * *
Universalium. 2010.
