Hennig brand biography sample
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Hennig Brand Facts & Worksheets
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Hennig Brand was a German merchant, alchemist, and pharmacist who accidentally discovered the element phosphorus while trying to conduct experiments and searching for the philosopher’s stone. He was the first named person in history to find a new chemical element.
See the fact file below for more information on the Hennig Brand or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Hennig Brand worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
BRAND’S EARLY LIFE
- Hennig Brand was born in 1630 in Germany. He lived and worked in Hamburg.
- History books have very little information about Brand’s early life. Some historians claimed that he lived a humble life and was an apprentice glassmaker as a young man. However, a letter he wrote for his second wife indicates that he was a man with high social standin
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"The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone" (1771)
A depiction of the discovery of the element phosphorus by German alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669.
Painted by Joseph Wright(3 September 1734 - 29 August 1797), styled Wright of Derby.
A flask in which a large quantity of urine has been boiled down, is seen bursting into light as the phosphorus, which is abundant in urine, spontaneously ignites in air.
By evaporating urine, Brand had produced ammonium sodium hydrogenphosphate, which on further heating produced sodium phosphite. In the presence of carbon (charcoal) this was decomposed to produce white phosphorus and sodium pyrophosphate.
1. (NH4)NaHPO4 → NaPO3 + NH3 + H2O
2. 8NaPO3 + 10C → P4(white) + 2Na4P2O7 + 10CO
In 1680 Robert Boyle and later his assistant Frederick Slare devised improved methods of extracting phosphorus from urine using sand.
3. 4NaPO3 + 2SiO2 + 10C → P4 + 2Na2SiO3 + 10CO
One advantage was that this method liberated all the phosphorus from the sodium phosphite.
The exact nature of the element was not understood for some time. The fact that a minute portion of it, rubbed between two pieces of paper took fire, caused excitement all over Europe whenever it was demonstrated. Given that its
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Phosphorus
Chemical element
This section is recognize the value of the chemic element. Espousal other uses, see Element (disambiguation).
Chemical highlight with small number 15 (P)
Waxy white Light red Dark red mount violet Black | |
| Pronunciation | (FOS-fər-əs) |
|---|---|
| Allotropes | white, turn down, violet, inky and starkness (see Allotropes of phosphorus) |
| Appearance | white, red sports ground violet dingdong waxy, inky is metallic-looking |
| in the Earth's crust | 5.2 (silicon = 100) |
| Atomic number(Z) | 15 |
| Group | group 15 (pnictogens) |
| Period | period 3 |
| Block | p-block |
| Electron configuration | [Ne] 3s2 3p3 |
| Electrons record shell | 2, 8, 5 |
| Phaseat STP | solid |
| Melting point | white: 317.3 K (44.15 °C, 111.5 °F) red: ∼860 K (∼590 °C, ∼1090 °F)[3] |
| Boiling point | white: 553.7 K (280.5 °C, 536.9 °F) |
| Sublimation point | red: ≈689.2–863 K (≈416–590 °C, ≈780.8–1094 °F) violet: 893 K (620 °C, 1148 °F) |
| Density (near r.t.) | white: 1.823 g/cm3 red: ≈2.2–2.34 g/cm3 violet: 2.36 g/cm3 |