It is an essential component of living systems and is found as phosphate in nervous tissue, bones and cell protoplasm. It is also found in the earth as phosphate rock. Phosphate rock is the main source of phosphorus and phosphorus compounds. Many body tissues have calcium phosphates in them.
Phosphorus was first made by heating a mixture of phosphates and carbon in an iron pot. The phosphates were made by dissolving bones in strong acids and evaporating the solution.
Phosphorus is made now by heating calcium phosphate, carbon, and silicon dioxide in an electric arc furnace. The heat of the electric arc melts the mixture of materials, and phosphorus gas is given off. It is absorbed under water. This makes white phosphorus.
White phosphorus is used in incendiary weapons and smoke grenades. It is also used to make organic compounds that have phosphorus in them. Phosphorus is used to dope semiconductors. Phosphorus is used to remove oxygen from copper. It is also used in making alloys. Red phosphorus is used in matches and flares.
Phosphorus compounds are used for fertilizers, soft drinks, toothpaste, and detergents. Most of these are phosphates. Phosphides can be used to kill rodents.
White phosphorus is very dangerous. It is very toxic and ignites easily, burning with a very hot flame. Red phosphorus is much safer. Some phosphorus compounds are toxic, but the common phosphates are not toxic.
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th President of the United States (1853–1857) and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He attended school at Hillsborough Center but then moved to Hancock Academy in Hancock at the age of 12. After attending school there for five years, he was transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy in the spring of 1820. After he entered, he felt homesick and returned home. Consequently, his father then put him in a wagon, drove him half way back to school, and left him on the roadside without saying a word. Franklin walked the seven remaining miles back to school. Later that year, he was transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy to prepare for college. That fall, he was sent to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. While he was there, Franklin Pierce participated in literary, political, and debating clubs. During his second year there, his grades were the lowest in his class, but he was able to improve them and graduated with the rank of fifth in his class.
Once finished with college, he went to law school in Northampton, Massachusetts. Pierce was admitted to the bar and began law practice in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1827. Franklin Pierce rose to a central position in the Democratic party of New Hampshire and was elected to the lower house in New Hampshire’s General Court in 1828. Pierce served in the State House from 1829 to 1833 and also served as Speaker from 1832 to 1833. Then in 1832, Franklin was elected Democrat to the 23rd and 24th of Congress from March 4, 1833, to March 4, 1837. At 27 years of age, Pierce was the youngest U.S. Representative at that time. In 1836, he was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the U.S Senate, serving from March 4, 1837, to February 28, 1842. After serving in the Senate, Pierce went back to Concord to resume law practice. He then was U.S. Attorney from 1845 to 1847 for the district of New Hampshire, though he declined Democratic nomination for Governor of New Hampshire and refused the appointment as General of the United States.
On November 19, 1834, Franklin Pierce married Jane Means Appleton. They had three children, all of which died in childhood. Franklin Pierce Jr. died only three days after birth; and Frank Robert Pierce died at four years of age from epidemic typhus; just two months before his inauguration, Franklin Pierce and his family boarded a train bound for Boston. Shortly after, their derailed car started to roll down an embankment. Franklin and Jane survived, merely shaken up, but saw their 11-year-old son Benjamin get crushed to death. Jane Pierce thought the train accident was a divine punishment for Franklin’s pursuit and acceptance of high office.
Franklin Pierce served as President from March 4, 1853, to March 4, 1857. He was the first President to “affirm” his oath of office instead of swearing it (the only other president to do this has been Herbert Hoover). So rather than placing his hands on the Bible, Franklin Pierce placed his hands on a law book. He was also the first President to recite his inaugural address from memory. Surprisingly, Franklin Pierce selected men of different opinions for his Cabinet. Many people expected a diverse group to break up quickly, but the Cabinet stayed together for Pierce’s four-year term.
Franklin Pierce’s toughest challenge as President was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and, in the west, reopened the question of slavery. These and more triggered a series of events known as "Bleeding Kansas". Pro-slavery Border Ruffians, mostly from Missouri, illegally voted in a government. Pierce recognized this and called the Topeka Constitution, set up by Free-Staters, as an act of “rebellion.” Overall, Franklin Pierce is ranked among the least effective Presidents of the United States, as he was unable to steer a steady, prudent course.
After losing the Democratic reelection in 1856, Pierce retired with his wife. Franklin Pierce died in Concord, New Hampshire of cirrhosis on October 8, 1869 at the age of 64. He was buried in Old North Cemetery in Concord.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, officially the Sublime State of Ottomania (in Ottoman Turkish: دولت عالیه عثمانیه), was a multinational state that lasted from 1299 to 1923. It was centered in Turkey and controlled the eastern and southern lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The empire was founded by Osman I around 1299, and was most powerful from around 1400 to 1600, when it controlled trade and politics in southeastern Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa. Suleiman the Magnificent was one of the most powerful rulers.
The empire was a collection of conquered countries. The Sultan sent governors to rule these countries or provinces, with titles such as Pasha or Bey. The most famous in the early 19th century was Muhammad Ali Pasha. Besides provinces, the empire also had tributary states.
In later years, the Ottoman Empire began to weaken. In the later part of the 19th century, it became known as "the sick man of Europe". The empire was defeated in World War I and broke apart.
The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I in 1299. His son, Orhan, captured its first capital, Bursa, from the Byzantine Empire. In the late 1300s, the Ottomans began consolidating power, especially in the Balkans, where Serbia was defeated in 1389 at the Battle of Kosovo Polje by Sultan Murad I. He died at the battle, and Bayezid I took control. At the 1396 Battle of Nicopolis, a large crusade of the Western European powers was defeated. Despite the victory, Bayezid was deposed by Tamerlane at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. His absence led to a civil war, referred to as the Ottoman Interregnum. Mehmed Çelebi won and became Mehmed I. His son, Murad II had to battle pretenders to the throne backed by the Byzantine Empire. He retaliated with an attack on Constantinople, and Venice helped the Byzantines. Murad defeated them at Thessaloniki. He also defeated the Karamanid "beylik" (principality), Hungary, Poland, and Wallachia at Varna in 1444. John Hunyadi, a Hungarian general, tried his hand at defeating the Turks but lost in 1448.