Sulfur, Italy

Sicily, Italy

Sulfur has been used for millennia as part of medical treatments and other uses; the ancient Egyptians used sulfur in ointments to treat infected eyelids as early as 1550 BCE, and Homer’s Odyssey mentions the ancient Greeks using the mineral for fumigation around 800-500 BCE. Even in ancient China around 600-500 BCE, Sulfur- called shiliuhuang- was a major component in black gunpowder and medicine.

Pure Sulfur is odorless. The smell we commonly associate with the mineral is a compound created when Sulfur is exposed to moisture, hydrogen sulfide.

Fun Fact: Sulfur is what causes the orange and yellow coloring on the Jupiter moon, Io!