Iodine is the last of the stable halogens. As such it is both the highest-melting point and least reactive of the lot: You can have iodine crystals out in the open, at least for a while before they sublimate away. They are sold as a cure for some sort of horse hoof ailment, which means you can buy crystalline iodine on eBay, sometimes in large quantities. Solutions of a few percent of iodine salts are a commonly used, low-tech disinfectant for cuts. Detailed Technical Data Compare at other websites: www.webelements.com Los Alamos National Labs Royal Society of Chemistry Toxicology Isotope information Minerals Translations and Etymology Science Fiction (Main Site) Comics Poetry (Main Site) Haiku (Main Site) Collections: Elements in the Human Body Fun/Dangerous Experiments Samples with Stories Tincture of Iodine (I and NaI in water/alcohol mixture). Kindly contributed by Ed Pegg. William Kolb reports that the reason kids don't like iodine used as an antiseptic is not because iodine stings, but because the alcohol in which it is dissolved stings. How typical of the medical profession not to bother trying to find a better way to dissolve iodine, since alcohol is cheap and the only disadvantage is that it makes the patients scream. A bit of sodium iodide in the water is all it takes to allow iodine to dissolve without the need for alcohol, reports William's chemist friend. Source: Walgreens Pharmacy Contributor: Ed Pegg Jr Acquired: 20 May, 2002 Price: $5 Size: 3" Purity: <5% Small crystals, 99.99%. Kindly donated by David Franco, who sent many elements after seeing the slashdot discussion, and this one after I sent him some Mathematica t-shirts. Click the story book icon for a story about contact explosives. Source: David Franco Contributor: David Franco Acquired: 11 June, 2002 Price: Donated Size: 0.05" Purity: 99.99% Sample from the Red Green and Blue Company Element Set. The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order. For most sample from this set I have my own picture on the left and the one from the company here, but I haven't taken a picture of this sample yet so there's only one picture. Source: Max Whitby of The Red Green & Blue Company Contributor: Max Whitby of The Red Green & Blue Company Acquired: 25 January, 2003 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 99.9% Sample from the Everest Element Set. Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (excepted gasses) weight about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Rob Accurso Contributor: Rob Accurso Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: >99%