ヨウ素の性質／ The Properties of Iodine

DENJIRO: I have a black substance here. And here is a bird's feather. Let's see what happens when we gently brush the substance with it. Quite an explosion we had there! This was actually a lump of nitrogen triiodide, a compound of iodine and nitrogen. But this compound is in an unstable state, so even the slightest impact causes rapid decomposition. It explosively turned into nitrogen and iodine gases. The smoke is actually iodine in the form of gas. Iodine can be taken from seaweed like kombu or natural gas. Japan is actually the second largest iodine producer in the world. Since iodine has disinfecting and sterilizing properties, it is used in mouthwash. But not only that, iodine is actually used in this as well: an LCD monitor. LCD monitors display images by combining liquid crystal and a polarizer. This monitor does not have the polarizer on it, so nothing is displayed. Right now, it's a white screen. Now, when we put the polarizer back... We can see the image! Iodine is actually being used in these polarizers. Let's now make a polarizer using iodine. To make it, we need a transparent film made with laundry starch. Here is iodine solution and boric acid solution. We dip the transparent film in iodine, then boric acid, in that order. It turned blue. After that, stretch it out horizontally, and dry it out. By doing this, the iodine particles will be lined up, and this will allow the sheet to function as a polarizer. We now take the finished polarizer and take it to the LCD monitor that had the polarizer removed. It is properly functioning as a polarizer. Iodine is an element that is crucial for creating polarizers. I hope energy will bring you all happiness. Our magic word is "Happy Energy!"