Phosphorus is an element essential to sustaining life largely through phosphates, compounds containing the phosphate ion, PO43−. Phosphorus is classified as a pnictogen, together with nitrogen, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and moscovium. The glow of phosphorus is caused by oxidation of the white (but not red) phosphorus - a process now called chemiluminescence. The term phosphorescence, meaning glow after illumination, derives from this property of phosphorus, although the word has since been used for a different physical process that produces a glow. White phosphorus emits a faint glow when exposed to oxygen – hence the name, taken from Greek mythology, Φωσφόρος meaning 'light-bearer' (Latin Lucifer), referring to the "Morning Star", the planet Venus. In white phosphorus, phosphorus atoms are arranged in groups of 4, written as P4. In minerals, phosphorus generally occurs as phosphate.Įlemental phosphorus was first isolated as white phosphorus in 1669. It has a concentration in the Earth's crust of about one gram per kilogram (compare copper at about 0. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth.
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