Fluorine decomposes cold water to give

Options

A. `4H^(+) + 4F^(-)` and `O_(2)`
B. HF and `H_(2)`
C. HF only
D. `H_(2)F_(2)` and `HFO_(4)`

Explanation

To solve the question "Fluorine decomposes cold water to give," we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the Reactants
- The reactants in this reaction are fluorine (F2) and cold water (H2O).

### Step 2: Understand the Nature of Fluorine
- Fluorine is a strong oxidizing agent. This means it has a high tendency to gain electrons and oxidize other substances, including water.

### Step 3: Write the Reaction
- When fluorine reacts with cold water, it can be represented as:
\[ F_2 + H_2O \rightarrow \text{products} \]

### Step 4: Determine the Products
- The reaction of fluorine with cold water produces hydrofluoric acid (HF) and nascent oxygen (O). However, due to the conditions (cold water), it initially forms hydrofluorous acid (HOF), which is unstable.

### Step 5: Understand the Disproportionation
- Hydrofluorous acid (HOF) readily decomposes into hydrofluoric acid (HF) and elemental fluorine (F2) or water. The overall reaction can be summarized as:
\[ F_2 + H_2O \rightarrow 2 HF + O \]
- This indicates that the products of the reaction are hydrofluoric acid (HF) and oxygen (O).

### Step 6: Finalize the Products
- Therefore, the final products of the reaction of fluorine with cold water are hydrofluoric acid (HF) and oxygen (O).

### Conclusion
- The answer to the question is that fluorine decomposes cold water to give hydrofluoric acid (HF) and oxygen (O).

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