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Have a look at http://www.dhmo.org/msdsdhmo.html

I would say, try it (but be careful). There really is a difference! According to the book "chemistry of the Elements" by Greenwood and Earnshaw, HOCl is volatile and exists in the gas phase. Its solutions can be concentrated to up to 5 mol/l, but in that concentration, quite some HOCl exists in the form of Cl2O (Cl2O + H2O <--> 2HOCl, at zero degrees the equilibrium constant K = 3.5*10^(-3) mol/l). Its solutions really do volatilize and so they can be smelled. I agree with you that HOCl is unstable, but not to the extent as you suggest.

No, I don't think so. What you are smelling is not Cl2, but very dilute HOCl. Hypochlorite is a very weak acid and especially in swimming pools, where water pH is kept near neutral for obvious reasons, quite some HOCl is formed: ClO(-) + H2O <--> OH(-) + HOCl. Chlorine really has a different smell. Just add a few drops of bleach to dilute HCl and sniff the mix carefully. Really, it is quite different.

Computing the products, given a set of reactants, is impossible with the current state of art of computers and the current precision at which the conditions can be modelled. The results frequently depend on the conditions as well. These computations require massive quantum mechanics computations over thousands or even millions of atoms in order to simulate a somewhat realistic macroscopic system. Balancing equations is another thing and is not that difficult. I've written a program in C, which does that for you, by computing an integer null-space of a certain matrix. The program gives all possible reactions, given a set of reactants and products. Look at http://81.207.88.128/science/chem/chemeq However, YOU are the one who must tell the program what are the reactants and the products. Shit in ==> shit out! The program just helps you with the tedious and error prone math.

If you look for NaI, KI probably will be OK for you also. KI can be purchased online at virtually every raw photography chemical supplier. They sell to individuals. Some addresses: http://www.artcraftchemicals.com http://www.jdphotochem.com Beware, however, KI is not really cheap at $15 to $20 for 100 grams.