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(More customer reviews)This book was first published last year in England under the title 'The Shocking History of Phosphorus'. However, its US publishers decided to call it 'The 13th element' because it was the 13th element to be discovered, and I mention this in the book. I am aware that the atomic number of phosphorus is 15 - indeed I wrote a text book devoted entirely to phosphorus chemistry more than 20 years ago - and I am sorry if this has caused some readers to think that I have got my chemistry wrong.
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The incredible "glowing" history of the "Devil's element "phosphorusDiscovered by alchemists, prescribed by apothecaries, exploited by ninth-century industrialists, and abused by twentieth-century combatants, the chemical element phosphorus has fascinated us for more than three centuries. It may even be the cause of will-o'-the wisps and spontaneous human combustion! Now John Emsley has written an enthralling account of this eerily luminescent element. Shining with wonderful nuggets-from murders-by-phosphorus to a match factory strike; from the firebombing of Hamburg to the deadly compounds derived from phosphorus today-The 13th Element weaves together a rich tableau of brilliant and oddball characters, social upheavals, and bizarre events.
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