Iodine ingested iodine and retain it for periods longer than this isotope's radiological half-life of eight days. For this reason, people at risk of exposure to environmental radioactive iodine (iodine-131) in fallout may be instructed to take non-radioactive potassium iodide tablets. The typical adult dose is one 130 mg tablet per 24 hours, supplying 100 mg (100,000 micrograms) of ionic iodine. (The typical daily dose of iodine for normal health is of order 100 micrograms; see "Dietary Intake" below.) Ingestion of this large dose of non-radioactive iodine minimises the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland. As an element with
Iodine test is not formed if only iodine or only iodide (I) is present. The colour of the starch complex is so deep, that it can be detected visually when the concentration of the iodine is as low as 0.00002 M at 20 °C. During iodine titrations, concentrated iodine solutions must be reacted with some titrant, often thiosulfate, in order to remove most of the iodine before the starch is added. This is due to the insolubility of the starch-triiodide complex which may prevent some of the iodine reacting with the titrant. Close to the end-point, the starch is added, and the