Fact of the Day: 10/12/2021

We see glow-in-the-dark toys a lot. Isn’t it interesting how the toys automatically glow when the light is turned off?  What causes the glow effect? The answer, for many toys, is phosphorus, element 15 on the periodic table.

Who discovered phosphorus? According to Brittanica.com, “Hennig Brand, a German merchant whose hobby was alchemy. Brand allowed 50 buckets of urine to stand until they putrified and ‘bred worms.’ He then boiled the urine down to a paste and heated it with sand, thereby distilling elemental phosphorus from the mixture. Brand reported his discovery in a letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and, thereafter, demonstrations of this element and its ability to glow in the dark” (“Phosphorus” par. 2).

Luckily, we don’t use urine-derived phosphorus for glow-in-the-dark toys. Around a century ago, scientists discovered that “bones with nitric or sulfuric acid formed phosphoric acid” (“Phosphorus” par. 2). Taking phosphorus from bones was cleaner and more sanitary, so that’s what we now use. The next time you see a friend with something that glows in the dark, consider telling them this unique and crazy fact.

Reference(s): https://www.britannica.com/science/phosphorus-chemical-element

Fact Author: Durga I.

Fact Editor: Ace

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