I accidentally left the cap off a bottle of Iodine tincture and other than just staining my wall it condensed a bunch. I am wondering if it is still safe for day to day use on cuts, scrapes, and bites? I think just the the alcohol evaporates out if I am not mistaken.

Thought someone here might know a little more chemistry than me.

 

Sure, it's just a tad less iodine in the bottle. I used to keep a small capped bottle of iodine crystals on the lab shelf for making nitrogen tri-iodide and over the years there was a huge iodine stain on the shelf and walls for over a meter in every direction from the small bottle.

 

 

Solid Iodine 'evaporates' too - sublimates - at room temperature.

 

Solid Iodine 'evaporates' too - sublimates - at room temperature.

I think you mean
solid iodine evaporates too?
I don't think the iodine evaporates from an alcohol alcohol. Iodine preferred to stay dissolved in the solution and only starts vaporizing (subliming) once the alcohol dries out.

 

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You can try placing a box of of ice (cold metal surface in the carbonate and hitting the walls with a warm hair dryer or hot air gun set in low to vaporize the iodine. Eventually, the iodine vapors will condense on the cold surface. You may be chasing it around the room if the walls are cool.

 

I keep my iodine in a glass shaker tube with HDPE cap and teflon seal and aluminum tape covering the glass so light don't get in. It looks the same as the day I put it in there 6 years ago.

Paint the wall. It isn't worth your time trying to scrub it off. Even if you do turn it into a soluble salt with a base, sunlight will separate it again. And heating it off will just drive it elsewhere (including your lungs).

 

You can try placing a box of of ice (cold metal surface in the carbonate and hitting the walls with a warm hair dryer or hot air gun set in low to vaporize the iodine.

Paint the wall. It isn't worth your time trying to scrub it off.

Those pictures are from 1-2 years ago. I did clean with a cloth as best that I could and then painted over it with some sealing paint then a coat of regular paint. It's fine now, no iodine showing through the paint