Handling Solids with Flammable Vapors

Figure 7-23 Handling solids with flammable vapors present. Source Expert Commission for Safety in the Swiss Chemical Industry, Static Electricity Rules for Plant Safety, Plant /Operations Progress (January 1988), p. 19. Reprinted by permission of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, New York.

Allotropic forms of phosphorus. Solid phosphorus exists in two distinct allotropic modifications and is also commonly encountered in a form consisting of a mixture of the two. White (or yellow) phosphorus is a translucent, waxlike solid which melts at 44°C, boils at about 290°C, and has a density of 1.83. When vaporized, the resulting gas consists of tetraatomic molecules (P4) up to a temperature of about 1500°C, whereupon these molecules partly dissociate into (and exist in equilibrium with) diatomic molecules (P2). White phosphorus is insoluble in water but is soluble in solvents such as ethyl ether and carbon disulfide. Great care should always be exercised in handling this form of phosphorus since it is highly flammable and very poisonous. Skin burns caused by phosphorus are exceedingly painful and very slow to heal. 

---