"The human body is, roughly speaking, one percent phosphorus," writes Jack Lohmann in Quillette. The exceedingly rare element is one of six that are absolutely essential to life. (The others are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur, which are more plentiful than phosphorus).
Each of the six essential elements performs a vital role. Carbon forms long chains, connecting compounds together to create large, complicated structures. Hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water. Nitrogen and sulfur create proteins, providing organisms with food. Phosphorus converts energy, carries information, constructs cell membranes, and performs a host of other actions that underpin life's complexity. Phosphorus allows seeds to grow and fruit to ripen. It is the main ingredient in matches. It both enables life and destroys it. Sarin gas, created from white phosphorus, is a potent agent of chemical warfare.
The scarcity of phosphorus limits the amount of Earth's biomass. "The maximum mass of protoplasm which the land can support, like the maximum that the sea can support, is dictated by the phosphorus content is life's bottleneck," wrote Isaac Asimov in 1959.
Lohmann wrote a book about phosphorus, called White Light (not to be confused with Rudy Rucker's fabulous mathematical science fiction novel, White Light).
[Via The Browser]
