The fifth element
No, not
the movie (although that was a lot of fun) and not
Boron either.
Phosphorus is the fifth most important element for life (after carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) and it's interesting that this evolved because there is so little of it around...
Back40 at
CrumbTrail has a wonderful article about this:
bq. Lapis Solaris
That's the original name Vincenzo Casciorola of Bologna gave phosphorus in 1602. Alchemists felt that light represented the spirit, making them keenly interested in phosphorus due to its apparent ability to contain light, as so glow-in-the-dark. Pure phosphorus also has the ability to spontaneously burn in air. Phosphorus was the ancient name for the planet Venus, when seen before sunrise. If you've been reading that book mentioned earlier - ok, alluded to earlier - you may have a heightened interest in phosphorous and the evaporative methods used to isolate it from certain liquids.
bq.
We now know that it's even more marvelous than the alchemists thought since it is essential to life and in chronic short supply.
Read the whole thing, it's a delight.
Back40 posts some links to other related articles too...
Posted by DaveH at August 24, 2004 11:50 PM