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White phosphorus is the first allotrope of phosphorus, and in fact the first elementary substance to be discovered that was not known since ancient times. [3] It glows greenish in the dark (when exposed to oxygen) and is highly flammable and pyrophoric (self-igniting) upon contact with air.
Irish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to an Irish person. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two.
White phosphorus is pyrophoric (it is ignited by contact with air); burns fiercely; and can ignite cloth, fuel, ammunition, and other combustibles. White phosphorus is a highly efficient smoke-producing agent, reacting with air to produce an immediate blanket of phosphorus pentoxide vapour.
It can cause “excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” a Human Rights Watch spokesperson said.
Elemental phosphorus was first isolated as white phosphorus in 1669 by Hennig Brand and marked the first "discovery" of an element not known since Antiquity. The name phosphorus is a reference to the god of the Morning star in Greek mythology, inspired by the faint glow of white phosphorus when exposed to oxygen .
Phosphorus must have been awe-inspiring to an alchemist: it was a product of man, and seeming to glow with a "life force" that did not diminish over time (and did not need re-exposure to light like the previously discovered Bologna Stone). Brand kept his discovery secret, as alchemists of the time did, and worked with the phosphorus trying ...
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People exposed to white phosphorus can suffer severe and sometimes deadly bone-deep burns. It can cause organs to shut down, and burns on just 10% of the body can be fatal, HRW said.