Thorium(IV) fluoride ( Th F₄) is an

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemist ...

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

. It is a white

hygroscopic Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules become suspended among the substan ...

powder which can be produced by reacting thorium with fluorine gas. At temperatures above 500 °C, it reacts with atmospheric moisture to produce ThOF₂.

Uses

Despite its (mild) radioactivity, thorium fluoride is used as an antireflection material in multilayered optical coatings. It has excellent optical transparency in the range 0.35–12 µm, and its radiation is primarily due to

alpha particle Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be pr ...

s, which can be easily stopped by a thin cover layer of another material. However, like all alpha emitters, thorium is potentially hazardous if incorporated, which means safety should focus on reducing or eliminating this danger. In addition to its radioactivity, thorium is also a chemically

toxic heavy metal A toxic heavy metal is any relatively dense metal or metalloid that is noted for its potential toxicity, especially in environmental contexts. The term has particular application to cadmium, mercury and lead, all of which appear in the World ...

. Thorium fluoride was used in making

carbon arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...

s, which provided high-intensity illumination for movie projectors and search lights.Thorium tetrafluoride
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References

Fluorides Actinide halides Thorium compounds {{inorganic-compound-stub

Uses

See also

References