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Red phosphorus meth5/27/2023 ![]() Its most problematic use has therefore been in incendiary devices: this particularly cruel weapon is illegal to use on civilians, but nonetheless has allegedly been used as recently as 2017 by the Russian-Syrian alliance in Syria and 2005 by the US-led coalition forces in Iraq. As well as glowing in the dark, this white, waxy solid ignited spontaneously on contact with oxygen, burning extremely fiercely, and causing severe burns on contact with the skin. This new element that was capable of emitting light was named phosphorus after the Greek word phosphoros, meaning 'light bearing'. In the process of fermenting and distilling large quantities of his own urine, Brand discovered a white residue that fluoresced in the dark. ![]() It was first synthesised in 1670 by German alchemist Hennig Brand in his search for the mythical Philosopher’s Stone, which was said to transform lead into gold. Of the three varieties (allotropes) of phosphorus that exist (white, red and black), white phosphorus was the first to be discovered. This jar contains red phosphorus, the non-toxic, less flammable and much more stable cousin of volatile, spontaneously-combustable white phosphorus.
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