The first form of elemental phosphorus to be produced (white phosphorus, in 1669) emits a faint glow upon exposure to oxygen – hence its name given from Greek mythology, Φωσφόρος meaning "light-bearer" (Latin Lucifer), referring to the "Morning Star", the planet Venus. The term "phosphorescence", meaning glow after illumination, originally derives from this property of phosphorus, although this word has since been used for a different physical process that produces a glow. The glow of phosphorus itself originates from oxidation of the white (but not red) phosphorus— a process now termed chemiluminescence.
↑Meija, Juris; Coplen, Tyler B.; Berglund, Michael; Brand, Willi A.; De Bièvre, Paul; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Irrgeher, Johanna et al. (2016). "Atomic weights of the elements 2013 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry88 (3): 265–91. doi:10.1515/pac-2015-0305.
↑Wang, Yuzhong; Xie, Yaoming; Wei, Pingrong; King, R. Bruce; Schaefer, Iii; Schleyer, Paul v. R.; Robinson, Gregory H. (2008). "Carbene-Stabilized Diphosphorus". Journal of the American Chemical Society130 (45): 14970–1. doi:10.1021/ja807828t. PMID18937460.
↑Ellis, Bobby D.; MacDonald, Charles L. B. (2006). "Phosphorus(I) Iodide: A Versatile Metathesis Reagent for the Synthesis of Low Oxidation State Phosphorus Compounds". Inorganic Chemistry45 (17): 6864–74. doi:10.1021/ic060186o. PMID16903744.
↑cf. "Memoir on Combustion in General" Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences 1777, 592–600. from Henry Marshall Leicester and Herbert S. Klickstein, A Source Book in Chemistry 1400–1900 (New York: McGraw Hill, 1952)
↑Ellis, Bobby D.; MacDonald, Charles L. B. (2006). "Phosphorus(I) Iodide: A Versatile Metathesis Reagent for the Synthesis of Low Oxidation State Phosphorus Compounds". Inorganic Chemistry45 (17): 6864–74. doi:10.1021/ic060186o. PMID16903744.