Chlorine Gas Poisoning/Damage?

I'd like to hear a chemist chime in here, but my understanding is the concentration of elemental chlorine gas in a pool's atmosphere is going to be pretty close to nil. Chlorine compounds, yes, but chlorine, no. It's so reactive it doesn't stay in its elemental form for long. Now I also know that some tiny fraction of molecules are going to crack apart in water - even tap water has some free H and OH ions in it. Whether chlorine ions get produced in the pool and if so how long they remain as ions when the reach the air is what I'm not sure of. Chemist chiming in here. The "chlorine" in your pool water is hypochlorous acid, which is the same thing as household bleach. This acid contains chlorine atoms (HOCl) but it is different from chlorine, just like water (H2O) is different from hydrogen. This acid, and its byproducts, do cause skin and eye irritation, fabric damage, etc. There certainly will be a lot of chloride ions (Cl-) floating around in the water. Those are the same ions that are found in salt water -- completely harmless, odorless, non-allergenic, etc. The amount of elemental chlorine gas (Cl2) above the pool should certainly be very, very small, unless there is something terribly wrong with the pool's balance.

I'd like to hear a chemist chime in here, but my understanding is the concentration of elemental chlorine gas in a pool's atmosphere is going to be pretty close to nil. Chlorine compounds, yes, but chlorine, no. It's so reactive it doesn't stay in its elemental form for long. Now I also know that some tiny fraction of molecules are going to crack apart in water - even tap water has some free H and OH ions in it. Whether chlorine ions get produced in the pool and if so how long they remain as ions when the reach the air is what I'm not sure of. Chemist chiming in here. The "chlorine" in your pool water is hypochlorous acid, which is the same thing as household bleach. This acid contains chlorine atoms (HOCl) but it is different from chlorine, just like water (H2O) is different from hydrogen. This acid, and its byproducts, do cause skin and eye irritation, fabric damage, etc. There certainly will be a lot of chloride ions (Cl-) floating around in the water. Those are the same ions that are found in salt water -- completely harmless, odorless, non-allergenic, etc. The amount of elemental chlorine gas (Cl2) above the pool should certainly be very, very small, unless there is something terribly wrong with the pool's balance.