Origin and occurrence of fluorine
Open-knowledge reference entry
Fluorine is relatively rare in the universe compared to other elements of nearby atomic weight. On Earth, fluorine is essentially found only in mineral compounds because of its reactivity. The main commercial source, fluorite, is a common mineral.
In the universe
At 400 ppb, fluorine is estimated to be the 24th most common element in the universe. It is comparably rare for a light element (elements tend to be more common the lighter they are). All of the elements from atomic number 6 (carbon) to atomic number 12 (magnesium) are hundreds or thousands of times more common than fluorine except for 11 (sodium). One science writer described fluorine as a "shack amongst mansions" in terms of abundance. Fluorine is so rare because it is not a product of the usual nuclear fusion processes in stars. And any created fluorine within stars is rapidly eliminated through strong nuclear fusion reactions—either with hydrogen to form oxygen and helium, or with helium to make neon and hydrogen. The presence of fluorine at all—outside of temporary existence in stars—is somewhat of a mystery because of the need to escape these fluorine-destroying reactions.
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