Iodine

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[|Iodine]__Area 1: Essential data__ Symbol: I Atomic number: 53 Mass: 126.9045 Period: 17 Group Number: 5 State at room temperature: Gas

__Area 2: History__

= = ===In 1811 when Bernard Courtois (1777-1838) discovered iodine, he was not searching for a way to heal his fellow humans. On the contrary; he was looking for a way to kill his fellow humans. Napoleon’s army at the time required huge quantities of gunpowder and supplies were running short. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate—KNO3—sometimes spelled salpeter) is a major component in gunpowder and requires an abundant source of sodium carbonate in order to be manufactured. Sodium carbonate is extracted from wood ashes, but the war had gone on so long that they’d run out of willow wood, the preferred source. Someone suggested using dried seaweed (burnt to ash), which seemed to be abundant off the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. The suggestion worked and the French were back in business, making gunpowder and killing people.===

__Area 3: Physical properties__ Boiling point: 457.4 [or 184.3 °C (363.7 °F) color: dark grey Melting point:113.5 °C Atomic mass:126.90447 Isotopes: 15 Color: violet-dark grey, lustrous State of matter: Solid (nonmagnetic)

__Area 4: Element uses__ Many medicines and cleansers for skin wounds contain iodine. Iodine is a building material of thyroid hormones that are essential for growth, the nervous system and the metabolism. Humans that eat little to no bread can experience iodine shortages. The function of the thyroid gland will than slow down and the thyroid gland will start swelling up. This phenomenon is called struma. This condition is rare now as table salt is dosed with a little iodide. Large quantities of iodine can be dangerous because the thyroid gland will labour too hastily. This affects the entire body; it causes disturbed heartbeats and loss of weight. Elemental iodine, I2, is toxic, and its vapour irritates the eyes and lungs. The maximum allowable concentration in air when working with iodine is just 1 mg m-3. All iodides are toxic if taken in excess. enviromental hazards: Iodine in air can combine with water particles and precipitate into water or soils. Iodine in soils will combine with organic matter and remain in the same place for a long time. Plants that grow on these soils may absorb iodine. Cattle and other animals will absorb iodine when they eat these plants.

Iodine in surface water will vaporize and re-enter the air as a result. Humans also add iodine gas to the air, by burning coal or fuel oil for energy. But the amount of iodine that enters the air through human activity is fairly small compared to the amount that vaporizes from the oceans.

Iodine may be radioactive. The radioactive isotopes are formed naturally during chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Most radioactive isotopes of iodine have very short half-lives and will reshape into stable iodine compounds quickly. However, there is one radioactive form of iodine that has a half-live of millions of years and that is seriously harmful to the environment. This isotope enters the air from nuclear power plants, where it is formed during uranium and plutonium processing. Accidents in nuclear power plants have caused the release of large amounts of radioactive iodine into air.

abundance of iodine: 2 million tones

__Area 5: Other information__ 2 lbs of iodine is relevent to 100$

This is a Bohr model of Iodine. http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/053/index.html This website is very helpful.