White phosphorus discovery

In 1841 Jons Jakob BerzeUius (1779—1884), who introduced the term allotropy, transformed white phosphorus to red phosphorous. In 1865 Johann Wilhehn Hittorf (1824—1914) was the first to produce metalhc phosphorus. Brand, however, was given credit for the discovery of phosphorus. 

Since the red modification can be handled much more safely than white phosphorus this discovery has been extremely beneficent to workers in the match industry. As early as 1851 von Schrotter prepared matches with it, but they were not easily ignited. H. Hochstatter of Langen, near Frankfort-on-the Main, exhibited successful red phosphorus matches at the London Exhibition of 1872 ( 54). The Hochstatter matches, according to von Schrotter, can be struck even upon cloth, they burn quietly,. . . almost without smoke and smell.. . . What is still more important, the workmen during their production are not... 

As noted earlier, for many years after its discovery the only source of phosphorus was urine and all the original work on production of the element involved production of the allotrope known as white phosphorus (after its white - or yellowish - waxy appearance) (Table 2). The efficient preparation of this allotrope by heating phosphate... 

So much for this precise description. Shortly after his discovery of phosphorus in 1669, the alchemist Hemiig Brand himself, the person most intimately acquainted with the material, still handled the new substance quite carelessly, After all, a lethal oral dose of white phosphorus amounts to only 50 mg. At iliar time apparently neither the substance s toxicity nor its extreme tendency toward self-combustion was recognized. Brand hiuiseJf came to experience both phenomena. In a letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on April 30, 1679, he wrote ... 

The discovery of elemental (white) phosphorus was soon followed by the characterisation of its combustion product, phosphorus pentoxide, and in 1694, R. Boyle prepared phosphoric acid by dissolving the latter in water. Phosphorus was found in plants by B. Albino in 1688, and the element was detected in human brain tissue by J.T. Hensing in 1719. 

The discovery of phosphorus (white phosphorus, P4) is reported to have occurred as a consequence of the reductive pyrolysis of phosphate (POc ) found in human (and other animal) urine the carbon-containing components being oxidized in the process to CO2 and CO. Phosphate-containing minerals are currently used with charcoal to produce the same material. 

The discovery of amorphous phosphorus natorally led to the idea of the empkyment. of this substance in the manufacture of luoifer matrites, and this improvement was especially valuable, as, in spite of all carc the phosphorus disease made its appearanoe in match manufitetoriea, where ordinary phos- Karos was employed. The suhstitution of the red phosphorus for the white modification rmidered its lecotrence... 

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