What Element in the Halide Family is a Liquid?

Only one halide element is a liquid at room temperature and pressure. Do you know what it is?

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Liquid Elements on the Periodic Table

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Although chlorine can be seen as a yellow liquid, this occurs only at low temperature or else increased pressure. The only halide element that is a liquid at ordinary room temperature and pressure is bromine. In fact, bromine is the only nonmetal that is a liquid under these conditions.

A halide is a compound where at least one of the atoms belongs to the halogen element group. Because of their high reactivity, halogens are not found free in nature as single atoms, but they do bind to their own atoms to form halides. Examples of these halides are Cl₂, I₂, Br₂. Fluorine and chlorine are gases. Bromine is a liquid. Iodine and astatine are solids. Although insufficient atoms have been produced to know for sure, scientists predict element 117 (tennessine) will also form a solid under ordinary conditions.

Aside from bromine, the only other element on the periodic table that is a liquid at room temperature and pressure is mercury. While bromine, as a halogen, is a type of nonmetal. Mercury is a metal.