Solved cryptogram
Fluorine attacks almost everything it touches, including glass, water and some noble gases.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.
What it means
Several nineteenth century chemists were poisoned or killed trying to isolate it, and the eventual success in 1886 took an apparatus of platinum and fluorite because ordinary glassware dissolves. The irony is that fluorine's compounds are among the most inert substances made. Once it has grabbed carbon it will not let go, which is what makes nonstick coatings so unreactive.
The claim comes from Royal Society of Chemistry, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 76 letters over 21 different ones, graded hard.
- SourceRoyal Society of Chemistry
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultyhard
- Length76 letters, 21 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
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