Alan Davidson

Phosphorus

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

Phosphorus a chemical element essential to life. In every cell of every living creature, a substance known as ATP (adenosine triphosphate) acts as a store of energy. In vertebrates, bones and teeth are a network of calcium phosphate and protein.

Pure phosphorus is a non-metallic solid which exists in three forms, one of them highly poisonous and spontaneously inflammable. In living things it is always in the form of a compound, usually a phosphate—a combination with one atom of phosphorus and four of oxygen.