White phosphorus testing

Preparation of Red Phosphorus. (This experiment is prepared by one student who demonstrates it to the class.) Take a test tube with a drawn out end and fill it with carbon dioxide gas. Pour water heated to 30 °C into a mortar and lower a piece of white phosphorus into the water. Holding the phosphorus with pincers under the water, cut off a piece the size of a pea with a lancet or sharp knife. Rapidly dry the phosphorus with filter paper on a glass plate and lower it into the test tube filled with car-... 

Preparation of White Phosphorus. Put a small amount of dry red phosphorus on the bottom of a test tube and close its mouth with a piece of cotton wool. Secure the tube in a clamp of a stand and carefully heat the place where the phosphorus is in a fume cupboard ). What happens Observe the luminescence of the phosphorus in the dark. 

Solubility of Phosphorus in Carbon Sulphide. This experiment is prepared by one student who demonstrates it to the class. (TFor/c in a jume cupboard, extinguish all burners ) Pour 2-3 ml of carbon sulphide into a small porcelain bowl and lower a small piece of white phosphorus into it. What occurs Take a small sheet of filter paper with pincers, wet it with the solution of phosphorus in carbon sulphide, and see what happens. Test the solubility of red phosphorus in carbon sulphide. 

To prepare pure white phosphorus, place commercial white phosphorus into a wide test tube with water. Heat the tube with the phosphorus in a beaker with hot water until the phosphorus melts. Vigorously stir the melt with a glass rod during 20-25 min. Stir it until the dirt gathers on the surface of the melt and the latter becomes transparent. 

IS THERE A MEDICAL TEST TO DETERMINE WHETHER I HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO WHITE PHOSPHORUS AND WHITE PHOSPHORUS SMOKE ... 

There are no medical tests to tell if you have been exposed to white phosphorus or its smoke. However, the health effects that can follow exposure may lead your physician to suspect exposure. For more information, please read Chapters 2 and 6. 

White Phosphorus. Information on hepatotoxicity after exposure to airborne white phosphorus is limited to an occupational exposure study. No alterations in liver function tests were observed in workers chronically exposed to an unreported amount of airborne white phosphorus (Hughes et al. 1962). 

One study was located regarding health effects in animals after dermal exposure to white phosphorus the study tested dermal and ocular irritation of white phosphorus in rabbits (Lee et al. 1975). 

The high mortality rates in pregnant rats may indicate a parturition-related sensitivity to the toxic effects of white phosphorus. Upon histopathological evaluation of selected tissues (heart, liver, kidneys, uterus, ovaries, and testes/epididymides), the only finding considered treatment related was an increased incidence of centrilobular liver necrosis in 8/30 treated females (Bio/dynamics 1991). 

Genotoxicity of a saturated solution of white phosphoms in water was evaluated in vitro in a standard Ames assay both with and without microsomal activation (Ellis et al. 1978). The tests used Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA1535, TA1537, TA1538, TA98, and TA100. White phosphorus was not genotoxic in these test systems. 

White Phosphorus. No studies were located regarding in vivo genotoxic effects in humans or animals after inhalation, oral, or dermal (nonbum and bum) exposure. In a standard in vitro Ames assay, white phosphoms was not genotoxic. Studies testing the in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity of white phosphoms would be useful. 

White Phosphorus Smoke. Decreased body weight and survival were observed in pups exposed to white phosphorus smoke in utero and during the lactation period (Brown et al. 1981 Starke et al. 1982). The authors suggested that these effects on the pups may be the result of impaired suckling. A study that tested this hypothesis would be useful in determining the potential of white phosphorus smoke to induce developmental effects. No dermal developmental toxicity studies were located studies examining this route would be useful in assessing human health risk. 

The human data suggest that the immune system is a target of white phosphorus toxicity however, no information on the potential of white phosphorus to impair immune function is available. Animal studies assessing the results of a battery of immune function tests could be useful in determining the immunotoxic potential of white phosphorus. Information on different routes of exposure could be useful in assessing if effects are route specific. 

Exposure. The major data insufficiency with respect to biomarkers is the lack of quantitative factors that can be measured either in-life or postmortem, and that are uniquely indicative of white phosphorus poisoning. This deficiency is related to the lack of definitive information regarding white phosphorus toxicokinetics. Because little is known about the fate of white phosphorus in the body, there are no substance-quantity or substance-presence tests that are currently available that indicate white phosphorus intoxication. 

A solid waste containing yellow and white phosphorus may become characterized as a hazardous waste when subjected to testing for reactivity as stipulated in 40 CFR 261.23 and, if so characterized, must be managed as a hazardous waste (40 CFR 261.23 [7/1/90]). dGroup D = Not classifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans... 

In Schloesing s test for free white phosphorus in phosphorus sesquisulphide the latter is shaken with light petroleum (b. pt. 45 to dissolve free phosphorus. The liquid is quickly filtered and an aliquot part evaporated in a vacuum at 15 to 20 The residue is oxidised with nitric acid and the phosphorus estimated. In order simply to detect the presence of phosphorus, the residue after evaporating off the petroleum is shaken with fine sand in a flask in the dark and carefully examined for phosphorescent glow,... 

The test of Phelps is more sensitive than the above for small quantities of phosphorus, and it is more rapid when a large number of samples require examination. It is based on the volatility of white phosphorus in a current of steam and its luminescence with oxygen, o I mg. in to c.c, of water can be detected. Hydrogen after washing... 

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