In the combustion of a pound of phosphorus, a sufficient quantity of caloric is set free to melt upwards of a hundred pounds of ice; this has been computed by direct experiments with the calorimeter.
EMILY.
And is the result of this combustion, like that of sulphur, an acid?
MRS. B.
Yes; phosphoric acid. And had we duly proportioned the phosphorus and the oxygen, they would have been completely converted into phosphoric acid, weighing together, in this new state, exactly the sum of their weights separately. The water would have ascended into the receiver, on account of the vacuum formed, and would have filled it entirely. In this case, as in the combustion of sulphur, the acid vapour formed is absorbed and condensed in the water of the receiver. But when this combustion is performed without any water or moisture being present, the acid then appears in the form of concrete whitish flakes, which are, however, extremely ready to melt upon the least admission of moisture.
EMILY.
Does phosphorus, in burning in atmospherical air, produce, like sulphur, a weaker sort of the same acid?
MRS. B.
No: for it burns in atmospherical air, nearly at the same temperature as in pure oxygen gas; and it is in both cases so strongly disposed to combine with the oxygen, that the combustion is perfect, and the product similar; only in atmospherical air, being less rapidly supplied with oxygen, the process is performed in a slower manner.
CAROLINE.