10 Chemicals You Really SHOULD Be Scared Of
5. FOOF (Dioxygen Difluoride)
Now for something with a name that sounds positively cuddly, but couldn't be further from it: FOOF.
FOOF is dioxygen difluoride. Its name comes from its chemical formula, O2F2, but it's also onomatopoeic. You see, this particular substance isn't a poison as such, it's just very prone to blowing up.
Dioxygen difluoride reacts vigorously with nearly every chemical it encounters, even ordinary ice. It decomposes into oxygen and fluorine (and we've already established that fluorine is pretty nasty in itself) at a chilly -160 degrees Celsius. To put this into context, the coldest temperature recorded on Earth is a mere -89 Celsius, in Antarctica.
FOOF is formed when a 1:1 mixture of fluorine and oxygen gases are exposed to an electrical discharge. Alternatively, the mixture can be heated to about 700 degrees Celsius and then rapidly cooled with liquid oxygen. Just, you know, not if I'm anywhere nearby.
Did I mention that it reacts vigorously with, well, everything? Not that many people have been brave enough to experiment with it, but one man did: A. G. Streng, from Temple University of Philadelphia. The paper he submitted in 1962 is really quite terrific. In the literal sense of inspiring terror. He carried out many of his experiments in a Pyrex container (glass. Glass!) and calmly goes on to say that it reacted vigorously with organic compounds.
Apparently, it exploded with ethanol (alcohol) at -183 degrees Celsius. It exploded with liquid methane. It didn't react with dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), until some acetone was added - when it exploded. It merely "reacted violently" with benzene and ammonia, but hey, it caused explosions when added to water ice. And violent explosions with chlorine. Are we getting the picture? This man is truly a superhero of the chemistry world, and let's not forget his poor wife: whom he thanks at the end for her contribution to the experimental work.
You're unlikely to come across FOOF, since most chemists wouldn't go near it with a 2 mile-long pole. It doesn't actually have many practical applications, although it does appear to have been used to prepare such interesting substances as plutonium hexafluoride and neptunium hexafluoride.
So in short, if someone suggests heating up some fluorine and oxygen, run away. Very fast.