Phosphorus was discovered about 1669 by the German alchemist Hennig Brand in the course of experiment s in which he attempted to prepare gold from silver . Of these, only white and red phosphorus are of commercial importance. When freshly prepared, ordinary phosphorus is white, but it turns light yellow when exposed to sunlight. It is a crystalline, translucent, waxy solid , which glows faintly in moist air and is extremely poisonous. It is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in organic solvent s, and very soluble in carbon disulfide .
Red phosphorus is a microcrystalline, nonpoisonous powder.
It has a specific gravity of 2.69. Phosphorus is widely distributed in nature and ranks 11th in abundance among the elements in the crust of the earth. It does not occur in the free state but is found mostly as a phosphate, as in phosphate rock and apatite. It is also found in the combined state in all fertile soil and in many natural waters. The element is important in plant and animal physiology and is a constituent of all animal bones, in the form of calcium phosphate.