[Howsikan]

I have a question, if I boil elemental sulfur (ocatasulfur) will I get Sulfur atoms or the S8 molecules in the gaseous state?  Thanks!
P.S. And if it just so happens that I get S8 molecules how can I split them up to form individual atom, is its just by heating the system up?

[Arkcon]

As I recall, gaseous sulfur exists as S₂  Wikipedia seems to agree:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_sulfur#Gaseous_allotropes

[mjc123]

"Sulfur vapor at temperatures of between 200 and 1000°C consists of all molecules with 2-10 atoms, some of which exist as two or more isomers... At low temperatures S₈, S₇ and S₆ are dominating in saturated sulfur vapor, the concentration of S₄ passes through a maximum at 900K, S₃ is always more abundant than S₄, and S₂ is the dominating species above 1100K."

R.Steudel, Y.Steudel and M.W.Wong, "Speciation and Thermodynamics of Sulfur Vapor", Topics in Current Chemistry, 230 (2003) 117-134