The Probert Encyclopaedia of Science & Technology

PHOSPHORUS

Phosphorus is a non-metallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs widely as a phosphate. It has the symbol P.

Phosphorus is an essential ingredient of all living things, and is present in well-marked amounts in nervous tissue and bones, composing in combination, as calcium phosphate, about 17 percent of the ash of bone. Ordinary phosphorus is a waxy solid that is colourless when pure, and forms brilliant, highly refractive crystals when sublimed in a vacuum, though usually it is more or less coloured pale yellow or buff from the action of light or the presence of impurities. It is practically insoluble in water, but dissolves freely in carbon disulphide and sulphur chloride, being also soluble, though to a lesser extent, in chloroform, aniline, and oils.

Phosphorus is most marked chemically by the readiness with which it is oxidized: thus, it glows and gives off fumes of a garlic odour when exposed to the air, and this reactions often generate enough heat to ignite the sample. When ignited in the open air phosphorus burns with a dazzling white light, forming a snowy deposit of phosphoric anhydride.
Research Phosphorus