OT: What is this white powder?

Question

Before I retired, I made frequent business trips to some pretty remote locations, I kept a few small containers (plastic 35mm film cans) in my Dopp kit with first aid/medicine chest powders I might need while on site with no local access to a drug store.

I usually labeled the containers. But I found an unlabeled one in the back of a bathroom cabinet drawer filled with white powder. I can't identify which of the following-- that I used to tote-- it is:

Corn starch, cornstarch with powdered zinc oxide, talcum powder, boric acid powder, ammonium alum styptic powder, or foot powder.

It doesn't have any discernible odor and I definitely don't want to touch a little to the tip of my tongue.

I was going to just chuck it out-- but agot tom wondering if there are any chemists on board who know a way to identify it.

rbowman · Accepted Answer

A drop of iodine would identify the cornstarch. Boric acid will dissolve in methanol and burn green. A drop of HCL helps.

micky · Answer

In  on Mon, 10 Jul 2023 10:05:05 -0400, Wade Garrett    wrote:On TV, the police always do that. I certainly can't answer your question, but I'll tell you a story.  Idon't like to take pills but still, when I'm out in case my back hurts,in the car I have their smallest bottle of Aleve, but maybe that's notthe best so since I don't want to carry several bottles, I add a coupleaspirin and maybe a couple tylenol and a couple no-doz.  And then 3months later, I don't what they are.OTOH, if you're stopped by the police it helps if they're in theoriginal bottle, but some pills came in a big bottle, and I need thebottle at home anyhow. I was able to match all but 2 of my uninidentified pills using Googleimages.

invalid unparseable · Answer

Talcum powder is very light and feel very slippery when rubbed between the fingers, and it is not soluble in water.

invalid unparseable · Answer

I probably could identify it but would probably toss it as none of these are expensive.

Wade Garrett · Answer

Yeah, that's probably the safest option. So much for my grand science experiment...

OT: What is this white powder?

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