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Phosphorus , the fifteenth ingredient on the periodic table , was first distilled by an alchemist look for for atomic number 79 — searching , that is , in at least 60 buckets of urine .
Hennig Brand , a German , discovered phosphorus quite by accident in 1669 while process weewee in search of a compound that would flex average metallic element into amber . According to theJefferson National Linear Accelerator Laboratory , there would have been an easier way : Phosphorus is now mostly isolated from the rock phosphate .
Phosphorus is used in the red tips of ordinary kitchen matches.
There ’s even a 1795 painting commit to phosphorus ' find , style " The Alchymist , in Search of the Philosopher ’s Stone , Discovers Phosphorus , and pray for the successful ending of his cognitive process , as was the customs of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers . " ( The Philosopher ’s Stone is the mythic substance said to turn metal into gold . )
The painter , Joseph Wright , left out some of the details , as recorded in the 1796 paper " Phosphoros Elementals " and re - describe in the 2006 textbook " Chemistry " by Kenneth Whitten and colleagues . The first stone’s throw in the process was to infuse the urine for two weeks , until it putrefy and bred worms .
Just the facts
accord to the Jefferson Lab , the properties of phosphorus are :
Element of light
The world morning star comes from a Greek Word of God meaning " carrier of lighter , " and this element delivers on that promise . The most coarse forms are white morning star , made up of phosphorus atoms arranged like a tetrahedron ( a four - sided Great Pyramid ) , and crimson phosphorus , a solid but non - crystalline form of the element . Less common is black phosphorus , which is made of atom arranged in a ring structure and looks a bit like the graphite at the point of a pencil .
White P is waxy and grant off a slight lambency in air , consort to theRoyal Society of Chemistry . It ’s also capable of ego - igniting in air once the temperature strive about 86 F ( 30 C ) ; the only dependable storage is under water . As a result , white phosphorus is used in fireworks and weaponry . According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) , it smack like match or garlic . Inhalation or contact with the hide is toxic , causing burns that can quickly turn calamitous .
cerise phosphorus is far more stable at room temperature — in fact , it ’s found on the side of any box seat of safety match . The rubbing of the match against the red phosphorous transforms a little bite of the red phosphorus into ashen daystar , providing the ignition needed to light the match , according toMichigan State University ’s Science Theater . Red phosphorus is made by hot up white daystar under hold in conditions .
In sure combination , though , red phosphorus is still very life-threatening . When exposed to enough heat ( 500 F or 260 degree centigrade ) , it will take fire . It explodes when combined with other compounds such as Cl , Na and ammonium nitrate , according toCalifornia ’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment , which flags red phosphorus as one of the dangerous ingredients used in making glass .
The non - illicit uses of Lucifer include brand - devising and the output of flares . The most plebeian use , however , is in fertilizer , allot to the RSC . Despite its fiery attribute , P iscrucial to life . As inorganic phosphate , a charge molecule , it fuse with sugar to form the backbone of DNA . It ’s also part of adenosine triphosphate , or ATP , the molecule that shop and release energy to grant cells to function .
Who knew?
Current research
Human P use has create problem for wildlife and people , likewise . In August 2014 , the city of Toledo , Ohio , had to discourage citizens against using the city ’s water due to a toxic algae bloom . Such blossom , which occur in other drinking - piddle lakes across the country as well , are often induce or aggravate by phosphorus from fertilizers and livestock waste flowing into waterways .
In many streams and lake , " phosphorus is the nutrient that is the most scarce , and therefore it is often the most important food , " enounce Dan Obenour , a professor of polite , construction and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University .
Obenour and his colleagues have studied the alga blooms of Lake Erie , which is where Toledo gets its drinking water . The dominant origin of atomic number 15 running into the lake is from agricultural fertilizers , Obenour told Live Science , though lawn fertilizers , pet permissive waste and even treated sewer water contribute .
Other factors , such as weewee temperature , can influence the timing and size of toxic alga blooms , so Obenour and his colleagues wanted to isolate the effects of plant food overflow . They used estimator models to relate the amount of phosphorus flow into Lake Erie to the size of the late - summer algae blooms in the lake .
The result , publish in October 2014 in the diary Water Resources Research , demonstrate a radio link : The more phosphorus early in the yr , the larger the algae bloom in late summer . What ’s more , Obenour said , " the lake is becoming more sensitive to cyanobacteria [ algal ] blooms . "
In other word , less phosphorus is necessary to produce ever - larger peak — a fact that could influence rule on factory farm upriver from the lake . The reason for the increased sensitiveness remains reasonably secret , but incursive species could be one factor , Obenour said . invading zebra and quagga mussels feed on non - toxic alga that contend with the toxin - return blue-green algae . Thus , when a Benjamin Rush of P get in the lake , toxic alga have little contention in bolt it up . The algae blooms would likely be a quarter or less the size of it of the flush blooms seen in Lake Erie in 2011 without human influence , Obenour state .
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