Chlorine played a prominent role in the discovery of isotopes. The famous Cavendish Laboratory scientists were fascinated with the atomic mass of Cl. Most elements have a mass that is a close approximation of the multiple of hydrogen (e.g., Aston 1927). By 1920, it was recognized that the atomic weight of Cl was ~35.5, which appeared to violate Francis Aston’s whole number rule. Sir Joseph J. Thomson started the famous “Discussion on Isotopes” (Thomson et al. 1921) with the following: “I will plunge at once into the most dramatic case of the isotopes—the case of chlorine”. The...
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