White Phosphorus - part of our "Berzelius Day" uploading 24 videos in 24 hours. Full video containing this reaction at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6_-EUcswSc NOTE FROM THE PROFESSOR: 9. White phosphorus is made up of tetrahedral shaped P4 molecules with very strained (and weak) bonds. P4 reacts with oxygen to make a white solid containing P4O10 molecules, which confusingly is called "phosphorus pentoxide" (it's confusing because "pent" is derived from the word "five" in Greek). See our 24 reactions playlist as it unfolds at: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6E4F35510525FFF7 Berzelius Day explained: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDXUDq2KLM4 More chemistry at http://www.periodicvideos.com/ Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/periodicvideos And on Twitter at http://twitter.com/periodicvideos From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/chemistry/index.aspx Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran http://www.bradyharan.com/