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Writing with White Phosphorus


White phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulfide is taken into a medicine dropper and used to write on a piece of filter paper. The pale yellow color of the white phosphorus can be clearly seen on the paper as the writing is done. As the solvent carbon disulfide evaporates away, the phosphorus begins to react with oxygen from the air. This spontaneous combustion reaction is an exothermic one that causes the paper to char, leaving P4, the formula for white phosphorus burned into the piece of filter paper.


The size of the movie file is 3 MB and its duration is 43 seconds. The name of the movie file is "PHOSPHO1.MOV" and it is located in the folder "MOVIES/PHOSPHO".

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