Iodine was discovered by a cat

Photo: A. Cha

In 1811 the French chemical engineer and pharmacist Bernard Courtois discovered iodine. He had a favorite cat, who was sitting at lunch usually on the shoulder of his master. Courtois often dined in the laboratory. One day during lunch, a cat, something frightened, jumped to the floor, but hit the bottle that stood near the lab bench. One bottle Courtois prepared for the experience of seaweed ash slurry (containing sodium iodide) in ethanol, and the other was concentrated sulfuric acid. The bottles were broken and mixed fluid. From the floor began to rise clubs blue-violet couple who settled on the surrounding objects in the form of tiny black-and-violet crystals with metallic luster and a pungent odor. This was a new chemical element iodine.

Source: www.chem.msu.su

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