Here’s another element which can only really be collected in a sealed ampule. Bromine’s less maniacal cousin, iodine is still a chemical not to be trifled with. Known to anyone old enough to have had a scraped knee, the stinging brown ink-like substance is most often employed as a topical disinfectant. It is a ruthless microscopic serial killer. When it comes into contact with a microbe it enters its walls and quickly combines with any and all internal structures irreversibly wrecking them. There’s zero chance of evolving a resistant strain for such an indiscriminate assault. Wow, so how come we don’t drink gallons of the stuff when we’re sick? Let me repeat, it’s an indiscriminate killer. When inside the body, iodine in its uncombined state targets absolutely anything in its way; whether a nasty virus or a healthy human cell, it kills ‘em dead. That’s why we prefer to use it on superficial wounds and as a skin disinfectant prior to surgery.

Iodine has a high vapor pressure which means the solid crystals will readily turn to fumes which are very difficult to trap effectively. Inside of a glass ampule though it’s well behaved. This way only a little disperses as a gas with the rest dutifully remaining as crystals. If you look at it just the right way you can see a slight tinting of this air-suspended iodine that so badly wishes to be free. Don’t let it.