How to get a clean phosphorus from urine

Not always a person commits great discoveries unselfishly, out of love for science - greed can also be a great stimulus for research. An example is the way of life of a German alchemist.

Hennig Brand was born in Hamburg around 1630, the year managed to participate in the Thirty Years War, but military career did not attract too, and Brand decided to do alchemy, believing that money first wife will arrange experiments to transform base metals into gold. However, because of expensive experiments gone all funds received from the dowry, the marriage was not destined to be happy: a spouse after a while she died and Brand was engaged in commerce, he married for the second time and was able to make a fortune, which allowed him to give all his spare time alchemy.

While scientists in the hope of finding a formula turn any material into gold, have experimented with a variety of substances. The most popular were precious stones and metals, but Hennig decided to experiment in the not so rare and expensive material - human urine. He bought into the soldiers' barracks, a few barrels and continued research. Alchemist few days the liquid evaporated and then subjected the resulting "syrup" distillation and calcined sand and coal, resulting in an white dust emitted by the dim glow in the dark - almost, phosphorus pure.

Discouraged by the experimenter (he was counting on gold) was first called the resulting substance is "cold fire", and then came up with the term «phosphorus mirabilis», translated from Latin means "light bearer miraculous».

Brand found a way to capitalize on Phosphorus: while he warmed up the excitement in the community, pritorgovyvaya unusual substance, but keeping a secret way to obtain it, and then sold, and the technology, and only when in 1737, the year the information came to the French Academy of Sciences, phosphorus became public domain.

If you want to get the phosphorus so exotic way, it is necessary to evaporate urine until syrupy substance was then heated this "syrup" is not pop up a reddish oil. Separating it, you must give the rest mass to cool, during which time a precipitate formed, which should be removed, and the rest of the mix and add a reddish oil. The resulting "cocktail" should be left for about 16 hours in a warm place - the oil begins to evaporate again with pairs of phosphorus.

via factroom.ru