nezza - 26-8-2017 at 13:55
I have added a video of white phosphorus glowing in the dark. This video is about 50 minutes of real time condensed down to 18 seconds. This was
necessary because each exposure is about 10 seconds at f4.5 and 6400 ISO.
Attachment: WP.mp4 (1.7MB)
This file has been downloaded 640 times
Sulaiman - 26-8-2017 at 23:49
Nice !
Doing this in UK gives a dull glow / slow burn,
I did this at my previous home in Malaysia (Ta>30oC), when exposed to air, phosphorous bursts into flames !
nezza - 1-9-2017 at 01:31
Yup. In the UK I had to wait for a reasonably warm evening (mid teens deg C) because in the winter it's so cold that the glow is very faint.
woelen - 1-9-2017 at 08:01
Interesting to see all the white specks of light. It looks as if the surface becomes a little wet while it reacts. Is this really the case?
I once saw the weird glow of phosphorus by adding some Zn2P3 to dilute HCl and gently heating this. The phosphine, produced in this way partially
decomposes and the escaping warm gas mix mostly is phosphine with some free phosphorus and hydrogen. This gives a lovely grey/white glow, a little bit
like small will-o'-the-wisp at the top of a test tube.
nezza - 3-9-2017 at 00:51
Yes. I was intrigued by the way the speckles appear. I dried the phosphorus with methanol and carefully wiped it dry before I started the video. The
speckles and dark areas appear over time and I wondered if it was a coating of phosphorus oxide, possibly with water absorbed that causes the dark
areas and speckling.