Phosphorus Atomic number 15 Stuff that glows Commentary

Hamburg—Hennig Brand elements

Phosphorus

• Could be Hennig Brand thought
• kidney stones were sympathetic with
• the philosopher’s stone
• that he tried to distill gold from urine . . .
• or could be the golden color of urine deceived him.
• At any rate, after letting it rot,
• evaporating it into a paste, heating the paste,
• discarding the salts (which included
• most of the phosphorus), mixing and reheating the rest,
• and cooling the vapors in water,
• he produced a white waxy material that glowed in the dark,
• actually ammonium sodium hydrogen phosphate.

Atomic number 15

• Kept a secret
• much in demand
• phosphorus
• was a sensation.
• Brand sold the process
• to a guy in Dresden.
• Everyone wanted to know
• how to make it.
• Given hints
• Robert Boyle
• figured it out
• and improved the process.
• *
• Today it makes
• matches
• fertilizers
• explosives
• baking powder
• pesticides
• plasticizer
• flame retardants
• detergents
• water softener
• and toothpaste.
• *
• Needed by
• all living creatures,
• having a role in our
• genetic machinery
• and in the transport
• of energy.

Stuff that glows

• Brand named it
• phosphorus mirabilis
• “miraculous bearer of light.”
• Reacting with oxygen,
• phosphorus
• emits light.
• *
• Radioluminescent phosphor
• excited by tritium
• on watch hands.
• *
• Happiness in your eyes
• but not
• that spooky green glow.
• *
• Moons, stars, nebulae.