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Can I use the red phosporous as an oxidiser in place of KNO3?


vincent4e

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White P is MUCH more dangerous than red P. Red P on its own is not that dangerous. It is non-toxic and odorless. Red P, however, is very dangerous in combination with oxidizing chemicals. Even weak oxidizers can react very violently with red P.

 

Commercial red P sometimes, however, has small amounts of phosphine. I also have a sample of red P, which is sold to me as 99.8% purity material, but it still has a smell of phosphine. Phosphine is very toxic, and the presence of that sometimes makes red P also somewhat toxic (not really badly, due to the very small amounts, but nevertheless....). The danger of red P lies in its extreme flammability and how violently it reacts with oxidizers (e.g. it catches fire at once, when immersed in an atmosphere of 30% chlorine or 50% bromine, mixed with air).

 

White P is insanely dangerous and of a total different order of magnitude more dangerous. It is VERY toxic (100 mg of the solid will kill a grown up person of 80 kg) and even more reactive than red P. Touching it with your warm hand usually ignites it. For this reason, it must be stored under water. I have a sample of white P and while I transferred it from its container to a display vial, it already started smoking. That was quite scary!

 

White P is not something you can easily play with at home, it is too dangerous. Red P is a nice chem to have, but not something for a starter.

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have you used the search engine? I`m fairly sure we had such a chap on here that was doing exactly that and posted about it roughly 2 years ago.

 

it`s not Rocket Science anyway, you just dissolve the match heads in boiling water, then let the "junk" settle, and pour of the liquid and evaporate it, that will leave your crystals.

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On hearing that much about White P...it seemed now to me that is it almost a pervertic substance indeed...sick

Funny that you call it perverted. Chemical substances are not pervert, certain uses of chemical substances are pervert.

 

For chemistry hobbyists, frequently the more 'pervert' (in your terms) compounds are the most interesting. Stuff that likes to react with many other things is interesting.

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