Question: What Is Fluoride?
Are you confused about the difference between fluoride and fluorine or simply want to know what fluoride is? Here's the answer to this common chemistry question.
Answer: Fluoride is the negative ion of the element fluorine. Fluoride often is written as F-. Any compound, whether it is organic or inorganic, that contains the fluoride ion is also known as a fluoride. Examples include CaF2 (calcium fluoride) and NaF (sodium fluoride). Ions containing the fluoride ion are similarly called fluorides (e.g., bifluoride, HF2−).
To summarize: fluorine is an element; fluoride is an ion or a compound which contains the fluoride ion.
Water fluoridation usually is accompished by adding sodium fluoride (NaF), fluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), or sodium fluorosilicate (Na2SiF6) to drinking water.
