OT: What is this white powder?

[Wade Garrett]

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]

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

[micky]

On TV, the police always do that.

I certainly can't answer your question, but I'll tell you a story. I don'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 not the best so since I don't want to carry several bottles, I add a couple aspirin and maybe a couple tylenol and a couple no-doz. And then 3 months later, I don't what they are.

OTOH, if you're stopped by the police it helps if they're in the original bottle, but some pills came in a big bottle, and I need the bottle at home anyhow.

I was able to match all but 2 of my uninidentified pills using Google images.

[invalid unparseable]

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

[invalid unparseable]

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

[Wade Garrett]

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