what would happen if we didn't have chlorine?

Question

what would happen to our boddies?

Answer 1

This is a hard question to answer, since the whole evolutionary scheme started with life in salt water. There would have to be some replacement cation, and life would have had to develop based on balancing the water inside plant systems with sea water. SOMETHING would have to replace it, and what would have happened with the replacement is difficult to assess in this short session.

With chlorine, we would have to develop a whole different line of insecticides, since they contain chlorine. We would have to develop different snow removing chemicals, since they are based on chlorine. Water purification would have to be modified, but there is sufficient research on chlorine substitutes that replacements could be employed. Of course, to use them at the amounts employed for chlorine may be a problem, since chlorine is so plentiful and relatively cheap.

I will have to dissent with Oliver, who say "good riddance" to chlorine. We use HCl in our stomachs. Some other acid would have to take its place.

Answer 2

Another factor is the use of Cl2 today. If we did not use it (or related chemical) for disinfecting water, potentially millions of people would die every year. it is a very important compound.