HarrisonGreenbaum
04-09-2008, 06:55 AM
In case anybody's curious as to what they're actually inhaling into their lungs, here's the answer:
* "When a match is struck on the striking surface of its box, the friction caused by the glass powder rubbing together produces enough heat to turn a very small amount of the red phosphorus into white phosphorus, which catches fire in air." (http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/092596.html)
* When you breath in right when you strike the match, you're taking white phosphorous directly into your lungs (it burns because the chemical is an irritant).
* "Weight-for-weight, phosphorus is the most effective smoke-screening agent known, for two reasons: first, it absorbs most of the screening mass from the surrounding atmosphere and secondly, the smoke particles are an aerosol, a mist of liquid droplets which are close to the ideal range of sizes for Mie scattering of visible light. This effect has been likened to three dimensional textured privacy glass—the smoke cloud does not simply obstruct an image, but thoroughly scrambles both visual and infrared radiation.
When phosphorus burns in air, it first forms phosphorus pentoxide (which exists as tetraphosphorus decoxide except at very high temperatures):
P4 + 5 O2 → P4O10
However phosphorus pentoxide is extremely hygroscopic and quickly absorbs even minute traces of moisture to form liquid droplets of phosphoric acid:
P4O10 + 6 H2O → 4 H3PO4 (also forms polyphosphoric acids such as pyrophosphoric acid, H4P2O7)
Since an atom of phosphorus has an atomic mass of 31 but a molecule of phosphoric acid has a molecular mass of 98, the cloud is already 68% by mass derived from the atmosphere (i.e. 3.2 kilograms of smoke for every kilogram of WP you started with); however, it may absorb more because phosphoric acid and its variants are hygroscopic. Given time, the droplets will continue to absorb more water, growing larger and more dilute until they reach equilibrium with the local water vapour pressure. In practice, the droplets quickly reach a range of sizes suitable for scattering visible light and then start to dissipate from wind or convection." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon))
* SO: In your lungs, the white phosphorous you just absorbed rapidly absorbs any moisture in your lungs and converts it into what looks like smoke when it is exhaled.
* BUT IS INHALING WHITE PHOSPHOROUS SAFE?
The short answer: NO! White phosphorous is used by the military for chemical warfare precisely BECAUSE IT IS TOXIC.
The long answer: While the smoke itself is probably not hazardous, prolonged exposure to white phosphorous is most definitely fatal.
"Exposure and inhalation of smoke
Burning WP produces a hot, dense white smoke. Most forms of smoke are not hazardous in the kinds of concentrations produced by a battlefield smoke shell. Exposure to heavy smoke concentrations of any kind for an extended period (particularly if near the source of emission) does have the potential to cause illness or even death.
WP smoke irritates the eyes and nose in moderate concentrations. With intense exposures, a very explosive cough may occur. However, no recorded casualties from the effects of WP smoke alone have occurred in combat operations and to date there are no confirmed deaths resulting from exposure to phosphorus smoke.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has set an acute inhalation Minimum Risk Level (MRL) for white phosphorus smoke of 0.02 mg/m³, the same as fuel oil fumes. By contrast, the chemical weapon mustard gas is 30 times more potent: 0.0007 mg/m³ ATSDR - Minimal Risk Levels for Hazardous Substances (MRLs), <http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mrls.html></ref>.
Oral ingestion (<-- This can happen if you swallow any of the substance!)
The accepted lethal dose when white phosphorus is ingested orally is 1 mg per kg of body weight, although the ingestion of as little as 15 mg has resulted in death.[26] It may also cause liver, heart or kidney damage.[24]"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon))
* Bottom line: Doing it once or twice correctly will probably not hurt you (although I'm not a scientist or doctor, so I am not responsible if you do it once or twice and hurt yourself in anyway!) but doing it over and over again will probably. Think about this: you're inhaling a military-grade chemical weapon into your lungs each time you do the trick. Is it worth it?
* "When a match is struck on the striking surface of its box, the friction caused by the glass powder rubbing together produces enough heat to turn a very small amount of the red phosphorus into white phosphorus, which catches fire in air." (http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/092596.html)
* When you breath in right when you strike the match, you're taking white phosphorous directly into your lungs (it burns because the chemical is an irritant).
* "Weight-for-weight, phosphorus is the most effective smoke-screening agent known, for two reasons: first, it absorbs most of the screening mass from the surrounding atmosphere and secondly, the smoke particles are an aerosol, a mist of liquid droplets which are close to the ideal range of sizes for Mie scattering of visible light. This effect has been likened to three dimensional textured privacy glass—the smoke cloud does not simply obstruct an image, but thoroughly scrambles both visual and infrared radiation.
When phosphorus burns in air, it first forms phosphorus pentoxide (which exists as tetraphosphorus decoxide except at very high temperatures):
P4 + 5 O2 → P4O10
However phosphorus pentoxide is extremely hygroscopic and quickly absorbs even minute traces of moisture to form liquid droplets of phosphoric acid:
P4O10 + 6 H2O → 4 H3PO4 (also forms polyphosphoric acids such as pyrophosphoric acid, H4P2O7)
Since an atom of phosphorus has an atomic mass of 31 but a molecule of phosphoric acid has a molecular mass of 98, the cloud is already 68% by mass derived from the atmosphere (i.e. 3.2 kilograms of smoke for every kilogram of WP you started with); however, it may absorb more because phosphoric acid and its variants are hygroscopic. Given time, the droplets will continue to absorb more water, growing larger and more dilute until they reach equilibrium with the local water vapour pressure. In practice, the droplets quickly reach a range of sizes suitable for scattering visible light and then start to dissipate from wind or convection." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon))
* SO: In your lungs, the white phosphorous you just absorbed rapidly absorbs any moisture in your lungs and converts it into what looks like smoke when it is exhaled.
* BUT IS INHALING WHITE PHOSPHOROUS SAFE?
The short answer: NO! White phosphorous is used by the military for chemical warfare precisely BECAUSE IT IS TOXIC.
The long answer: While the smoke itself is probably not hazardous, prolonged exposure to white phosphorous is most definitely fatal.
"Exposure and inhalation of smoke
Burning WP produces a hot, dense white smoke. Most forms of smoke are not hazardous in the kinds of concentrations produced by a battlefield smoke shell. Exposure to heavy smoke concentrations of any kind for an extended period (particularly if near the source of emission) does have the potential to cause illness or even death.
WP smoke irritates the eyes and nose in moderate concentrations. With intense exposures, a very explosive cough may occur. However, no recorded casualties from the effects of WP smoke alone have occurred in combat operations and to date there are no confirmed deaths resulting from exposure to phosphorus smoke.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has set an acute inhalation Minimum Risk Level (MRL) for white phosphorus smoke of 0.02 mg/m³, the same as fuel oil fumes. By contrast, the chemical weapon mustard gas is 30 times more potent: 0.0007 mg/m³ ATSDR - Minimal Risk Levels for Hazardous Substances (MRLs), <http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mrls.html></ref>.
Oral ingestion (<-- This can happen if you swallow any of the substance!)
The accepted lethal dose when white phosphorus is ingested orally is 1 mg per kg of body weight, although the ingestion of as little as 15 mg has resulted in death.[26] It may also cause liver, heart or kidney damage.[24]"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon))
* Bottom line: Doing it once or twice correctly will probably not hurt you (although I'm not a scientist or doctor, so I am not responsible if you do it once or twice and hurt yourself in anyway!) but doing it over and over again will probably. Think about this: you're inhaling a military-grade chemical weapon into your lungs each time you do the trick. Is it worth it?