News tagged with phosphorus
Fungi shifted plant balance of power
Cooperating with fungi didn't just help the earliest plants spread across a barren, rocky landscape; it also played a decisive role in the rise of more complex plants with roots and leaves that make up most ...
May 24, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Single-atom transistor is 'perfect'
In a remarkable feat of micro-engineering, UNSW physicists have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal.
Feb 19, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (44) |
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Clues to Neanderthal hunting tactics hidden in reindeer teeth
Scientists have found that our cousins the Neanderthal employed sophisticated hunting strategies similar to the tactics used much later by modern humans. The new findings come from the analysis of subtle chemical ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 16, 2011 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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Single electron reader opens path for quantum computing
Researchers from University of New South Wales (Australia), University of Melbourne (Australia), and Aalto University (Finland) have succeeded in demonstrating a high-fidelity detection scheme for the magnetic ...
Sep 27, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (27) |
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Jupiter has lost one of its cloud stripes
(PhysOrg.com) -- New photographs of the gas giant Jupiter, the first taken on May 9, show the massive reddish band of clouds known as the Southern Equatorial Belt in the planet’s southern hemisphere has disappeared ...
May 14, 2010 |
4.7 / 5 (22) |
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Sea lions fuel ocean life
Like whales, sea lions are contributing to marine ecosystems in the most fundamental way possible, research by a Flinders graduate has found.
May 15, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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New life form found on Earth: Deadly arsenic breathes life into organisms (Update, Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence that the toxic element arsenic can replace the essential nutrient phosphorus in biomolecules of a naturally occurring bacterium expands the scope of the search for life beyond Earth, ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (48) |
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New evidence supports 'Snowball Earth' as trigger for early animal evolution
A team of scientists, led by biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside, has found new evidence linking "Snowball Earth" glacial events to the rise of early animals.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 27, 2010 |
4.3 / 5 (19) |
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Black arsenic: Fact or fiction? Synthesis and identification of metastable compounds
(PhysOrg.com) -- Phosphorus and arsenic are on top of each other in one group of the periodic table, so they have many similar properties. In addition to tubular forms, phosphorus is found in white, red, black, ...
Feb 17, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Critics raise doubts on NASA's arsenic bacteria
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA’s announcement last week that bacteria had been discovered that appeared to replace phosphorus with arsenic and thrive even in the most poisonous environments, has now come under ...
Dec 09, 2010 |
5 / 5 (17) |
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Quantum Computer Chips Now One Step Closer To Reality
In the quest for smaller, faster computer chips, researchers are increasingly turning to quantum mechanics -- the exotic physics of the small. The problem: the manufacturing techniques required to make quantum devices have ...
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
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Research offers new way to see inside solids
Researchers at Yale University have developed a new way of seeing inside solid objects, including animal bones and tissues, potentially opening a vast array of dense materials to a new type of detailed internal ...
Mar 20, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
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Scientists build 'single-atom transistor'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Helsinki University of Technology (Finland), University of New South Wales (Australia), and University of Melbourne (Australia) have succeeded in building a working transistor, ...
Dec 06, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (38) |
3
Did Phosphorus Trigger Complex Evolution -- and Blue Skies?
(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolution of complex life forms may have gotten a jump start billions of years ago, when geologic events operating over millions of years caused large quantities of phosphorus to wash ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 10, 2010 |
4.8 / 5 (15) |
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Viruses con bacteria into working for them
MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria should beware of viruses bearing gifts: These viruses are carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Phosphorus
Phosphorus (pronounced /ˈfɒsfərəs/) is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate rocks. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms - white phosphorus and red phosphorus. Although the term "phosphorescence", meaning glow after illumination, derives from phosphorus, glow of phosphorus originates from oxidation of the white (but not red) phosphorus and should be called chemiluminescence.
Due to its high reactivity, phosphorus is never found as a free element in nature on Earth. The first form of phosphorus to be discovered (white phosphorus, discovered in 1669) emits a faint glow upon exposure to oxygen — hence its name given from Greek mythology, Φωσφόρος meaning "light-bearer" (Latin Lucifer), referring to the "Morning Star", the planet Venus.
Phosphorus is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids which form all cell membranes. It is thus an essential element for all living cells. The most important commercial use of phosphorus-based chemicals is the production of fertilizers.
Phosphorus compounds are also widely used in explosives, nerve agents, friction matches, fireworks, pesticides, toothpaste and detergents.
For more information about Phosphorus, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
