In this video, we're going to talk about the use of the halogen chlorine as a method to control microbial growth. Chlorine is a halogen chemical that disinfects inanimate or non-living objects when used appropriately. Chlorine is generally used at very low concentrations because it is both toxic and corrosive at high concentrations. In some cases, chlorine can react with organic matter to form carcinogenic products or products that contribute to the development of cancer. Thus, the use of chlorine needs to be managed appropriately and used in the correct form.
Chlorine is readily available in multiple forms, including sodium hypochlorite, which is essentially liquid bleach. This is an inexpensive and readily available form of chlorine that you can buy at a grocery store. There is also chlorine dioxide, whose chemical formula is ClO2. This is a less harmful form of chlorine that is used to disinfect drinking water.
Depending on the type or form of chlorine that you are using and the specific concentration of chlorine, it can be used to disinfect either inanimate objects such as surfaces of items and other such things. But it can also be used to disinfect drinking water, thereby making the drinking water safer to consume.
If we take a look at our image down below, at the use of chlorine as a method of controlling microbial growth, notice on the left-hand side we're showing you sodium hypochlorite, which is just liquid bleach. Its chemical formula is, as you see here, sodium with chlorine bound to an oxygen. This is again liquid bleach. But, once again, other forms of chlorine like ClO2 can be used as well, for different purposes.
Depending on the form and the concentration of chlorine, it can be used to either disinfect drinking water or it can be used to disinfect swimming pools, once again at really low concentrations. And that's why we've got this swimming pool here to help remind you that chlorine can be used to disinfect swimming pools. We've also got this guy drinking some water here because the right type of chlorine can be used by water production facilities to help disinfect the drinking water that we drink.
This here concludes our brief lesson on chlorine as a chemical method to control microbial growth, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward in our course. So I'll see you all in our next video.