PHOSPHORUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Phosphorus

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/fˈɑsfərəs/ Listen

noun

Phosphorus n. (pl. phosphori)

1.

The morning star; Phosphor.

2.

(Chem.) A poisonous nonmetallic element of the nitrogen group, obtained as a white, or yellowish, translucent waxy substance, having a characteristic disagreeable smell; this waxy allotropic form is also called yellow phosphorus, to distinguish it from another allotropic form, red phosphorus. It is very active chemically, must be preserved under water, and unites with oxygen even at ordinary temperatures, giving a faint glow, whence its name. It always occurs combined, usually in phosphates, as in the mineral apatite, in bones, etc. It is used in the composition on the tips of friction matches, and for many other purposes. It is an essential component of the genetic material of all living organisms. The molecule contains four atoms. Symbol P. Atomic weight 31.0.

3.

(Chem.) Hence, any substance which shines in the dark like phosphorus, as certain phosphorescent bodies.

Bologna phosphorus (Chem.), sulphide of barium, which shines in the dark after exposure to light; so called because this property was discovered by a resident of Bologna. The term is sometimes applied to other compounds having similar properties.

Metallic phosphorus (Chem.), an allotropic modification of phosphorus, obtained as a gray metallic crystalline substance, having very inert chemical properties. It is obtained by heating ordinary phosphorus in a closed vessel at a high temperature.

Phosphorus disease (Med.), a disease common among workers in phosphorus, giving rise to necrosis of the jawbone, and other symptoms.

Red phosphorus, or Amorphous phosphorus (Chem.), an allotropic modification of phosphorus, obtained as a dark red powder by heating ordinary phosphorus in closed vessels. It is not poisonous, is not phosphorescent, and is only moderately active chemically. It is valuable as a chemical reagent, and is used in the composition of the friction surface on which safety matches are ignited.

Solar phosphori (Chem.), phosphorescent substances which shine in the dark after exposure to the sunlight or other intense light.

yellow phosphorus (Chem.), the waxy yellow allotropic form of elemental phosphorus. See also phosphorus (2).

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Etymology of 'Phosphorus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Phosphorus" Quotes from Famous Books

... the supposition that the more combustible a substance was the more phlogiston it contained, and since free phlogiston sought always to combine with some suitable substance, it was only necessary to mix the phlogisticating agents, such as charcoal, phosphorus, oils, fats, etc., with the ashes of the original substance, and heat the mixture, the phlogiston thus freed uniting at once with the ashes. This theory fitted very nicely as applied to the calcined lead revivified by the grains of wheat, although ...

— A History of Science, Volume 4(of 5) • Henry Smith Williams

... corpulent, tightly belted, the Captain wore, cropped almost close, his red hair, the fiery filaments of which, when under the reflection of certain lights, might have given the impression as though his face had been rubbed with phosphorus. Two teeth lost in a night orgy and brawl, he did not exactly remember now, caused him to spit out indistinct words which one could not always understand. He was bald only on the top of his head, like a tonsured monk, with a crop of short, curly hair, golden and ...

— Mademoiselle Fifi • Guy de Maupassant

... triumph of pure reason, chess, an unadulterated product of the brain—i.e., of phosphorus—i.e., of fish. Nobody stakes money on chess or offers a prize to the best player. Honor at that board is its own reward. So when we are told of the Centennial Chess Tournament we recognize at once the fitness of the word borrowed from the chivalric joust. It is the culmination ...

— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science - Vol. XVII, No. 102. June, 1876. • Various

... produced thereby. Now, the phenomenon of phosphorescence in organic forms, whether living or dead, appears also to be due to a process of oxidation, but one that goes on much more slowly than in the case of a lighted candle. It is thus more closely analogous to what is observed in the element phosphorus itself, which owes its name (meaning "light-bearer") to the fact that when exposed to the air at ordinary temperatures it glows in the dark, in consequence of its becoming ...

— Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) - Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky • Various

... the foundling to her broader breast. In that rare atmosphere of the Sierra foot-hills,—that air pungent with balsamic odor, that ethereal cordial at once bracing and exhilarating—he may have found food and nourishment, or a subtle chemistry that transmuted ass's milk to lime and phosphorus. Stumpy inclined to the belief that it was the latter and good nursing. "Me and that ass," he would say, "has been father and mother to him! Don't you," he would add, apostrophizing [Footnote: Apostrophizing: using a special ...

— Short Stories and Selections for Use in the Secondary Schools • Emilie Kip Baker

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