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Fluorine reacting with caesium, video by the Royal Institution.
Reactions of elemental fluorine with metals require diverse conditions that depend on the metal. Often, the metal must be powdered because many metals passivate by forming protective layers of the metal fluoride that resist further fluoridation. The alkali metals can react with fluorine explosively, while the alkaline earth metals react not quite as aggressively. The noble metals ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, platinum, and gold react least readily, requiring pure fluorine gas at 300–450 °C.
Fluorine reacts explosively with hydrogen in a manner similar to that of alkali metals. The halogens react readily with fluorine gas as does the heavy noble gas radon. The lighter noble gases xenon and krypton can be made to react with fluorine under special conditions, while argon will undergo chemical transformations only with hydrogen fluoride. Nitrogen, with its very stable triple bonds, requires electric discharge and high temperatures to combine with fluorine directly. Fluorine reacts with ammonia to form nitrogen and hydrogen fluoride.
Fluorine's chemistry is dominated by its strong tendency to gain an electron. It is the most electronegative element and elemental fluorine is a strong oxidant. The removal of an electron from a fluorine atom requires so much energy that no known reagents are known to oxidize fluorine to any positive oxidation state.