Intense Iodine

When thinking about a very important element, Iodine may not always come to mind. However, Iodine is extremely vital to the human body and is also one of the most interesting elements! Iodine was first discovered in 1811 in Paris, France by Bernard Courtois when he produced purple vapor and crystals after adding sulfuric acid to seaweed. Yes, seaweed! Iodine is found in many ocean-dwelling organisms because of its ability to combine with salts. This substance was found to be a new element and was named Iodine after the Greek word "iodes" meaning violet. Iodine crystals are a bluish-black color. At ground state, Iodine is a lustrous (or shiny) solid that forms compounds with many other elements, making it very helpful to humans pertaining to medicine and other industries. Even though Iodine is officially a non-metal, it still displays some properties of metals, like being lustrous. Iodine can sublimate also! This means that instead of changing states from solid to liquid to gas, it jumps from solid straight to gas, and from gas straight back to a solid! How neat is that?!?!
Iodine has many important uses, some of which you may never expect! Iodine is very important in the medical fields, along with photography and other industries. Iodine is available commercially and is isolated on a huge scale in industry. Most iodine is isolated by taking iodine vapor from processed brine, which is a very cheap process. This means that you, the consumer, can buy iodine for very low prices. 100 g of pure iodine only costs $8.30 while bulk iodine only costs $1 for 100 g! Talk about a deal!
Iodine is an amazing element, is helpful in everyday life, and is very affordable. When thinking about an element that can make your life better, not many people may think of Iodine. However, this element can help you in ways you may never imagine! So buy some Iodine, you won't be disappointed!
Ian Anderson
September 25, 2011