Sciencemadness Discussion Board

White phosphorus

nelsonB - 13-1-2014 at 18:42

Hi
i was wondering if we could reduce sodium triphosphate with charcoal
to get white phosphorus
in the same way they use sodium phosphate ?




[Edited on 14-1-2014 by nelsonB]

Zyklon-A - 13-1-2014 at 18:48

Make white phosphorus.

elementcollector1 - 13-1-2014 at 18:52

Wow.
There is a sticky thread with all kinds of information about phosphorus at the very top of this page.
Did you even bother to look?

Zyklon-A - 13-1-2014 at 18:57

I bet he did see it, but it's very long, and I haven't even read the whole thing, plus his question may not have been answered there, should have been put in short questions forum though.

Bot0nist - 13-1-2014 at 19:11

I personally find it rude to come and ask a question about a topic that is covered in a lengthy sticky on this site without even bothering to read the sticky. A lot of people put a lot of time and thought into that thread. If TL;DR is a common reply, then perhaps chemistry isn't for you... And if you dont feel like reading a lengthy thread, then then you can always UTFSE, or use the short questions thread.

Good luck, and welcome to SciMad.

bfesser - 14-1-2014 at 06:12

Okay, that's enough flaming. You've made your point.

nelsonB, I don't think you can directly reduce <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_triphosphate" target="_blank">Na<sub>5</sub>P<sub>3</sub>O<sub>10</sub></a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_phosphorus#White_phosphorus" target="_blank">white phosphorus</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />. By the way, you wrote sodium triphosphate, Na<sub>5</sub>P<sub>3</sub>O<sub>10</sub>, but your picture is of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate" target="_blank">trisodium phosphate</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />, Na<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>. They're two quite different things.

[Oops. Sorry, I didn't mean to lock this. Damn checkboxes!]

[Edited on 14.1.14 by bfesser]

Bot0nist - 14-1-2014 at 11:34

Sorry nelsonB and bfesser. I didnt mean for that to come off as so rude sounding. Its just a little pet peeve of mine. I in no way want to discourage or run off new members. Sorry agian guys. It wont happen agian.