White P is not as much of a treacherous beast as many think. I should add "until it finally ignites".
I have a thread on this site which shows my attempts to let about 2 1/2 g WP spontaneously ignite. It was a moderate summer day, maybe 75 degrees. I
placed the sample on a large flat rock. It changed over many minutes, looked a bit mushy, but no flames.
Thinking the rock was too efficient a heat sink, I moved it to a wooden log. A minute or two later, it rapidly inflamed and acquired a viscosity so
low, the fire looked like gasoline burning as it flowed extremely easily to cover an area maybe a hundred times the original footprint.
If the white P is melted in an inert gas or under water first, and then O2 finds it, the fire is fast and furious. |