The chemical is dubbed 'the element of the devil'.

Phosphorus is related to glowing skulls, ghosts outside the graveyard and the phenomenon of self-igniting in humans.

Phosphorus (P) is an important element of life. It combines with oxygen to produce phosphate, the compound that plays a role in making bonds in DNA, making the bones strong and performing chemical reactions inside human cells, according to the Guardian. But phosphorus also has its dark side, making some people describe this chemical as "evil element".

Pure phosphorus has many forms and colors such as white, red, purple, black, pink, depending on the arrangement of atoms.White phosphorus is the first form discovered by alchemist Hennig Brandt in the 1660s. This is also the starting point for the elemental link between phosphorus and spooky phenomena.

Alchemist Hennig Brandt experimented with discovering phosphorus.(Photo: John McLean).

Brandt boiled a large amount of his urine to search for gold. After several days of heating his urine, Hennig isolated a white, waxy solid. At first Hennig was disappointed with the effort he had not paid, but he quickly rejoiced when he discovered the new solid that created a strange green glow in the dark night.

Hennig named the new compound phosphorus, which in Greek means "light carrier". He hopes phosphorus could be a safe alternative to lighting candles for homes. However, there are two issues that make this idea impossible to come true.

First , phosphorus decomposes over time to form compounds that have unpleasant odors. The second is the flammability of white phosphorus. White phosphorus glows green because it reacts with oxygen in the air. This reaction easily accelerated, quickly developed into a fire and white smoke caused a house fire.

The flammability of phosphorus and some of its compounds suggests that this is the cause of spontaneous combustion in humans. The gut bacteria converts the phosphate compound in food into phosphine (PH ₃ ) , the compound that burns itself when exposed to air. Phosphine is found in human feces and animal feces but in very small amounts. Although this hypothesis may sound reasonable, it is likely that it is not the cause of human self-igniting, because there have been no cases of natural self-igniting cows discovered.

Phosphorus is also the culprit causing strange phenomena that often appear in cemeteries, which are glimmering green fire spots called " ghosts".

The ghost in the graveyard is the phenomenon of phosphorus compounds formed from the activity of bacteria decomposing human bodies and escaping from the grave. They meet the air in certain conditions that will ignite into small flames of light blue, flickering, when hidden when present.

In the 19th century, manufacturers used white phosphorus to make matchsticks, creating flames with only small amounts of heat from the friction process. 14-hour continuous workers in these plants are exposed to high levels of phosphorus. They experience symptoms such as toothache and tooth loss, facial swelling, jaw deformity, liver damage.

However, white phosphorus continued to be widely used until the early 20th century. In 1910, Britain banned the use of white phosphorus to make matches and replace it with safer phosphorus.

White phosphorus burns itself in the air.

Today, white phosphorus is mainly used in chemical weapons. When fired from bombs and shells that exploded, white phosphorus could burn fiercely in the air, causing severe burns and skin damage to the victim's skin and difficult to extinguish.

The Geneva Convention on the Protection of 1977 War Victims officially prohibits "unnecessary injury or pain " weapons, including white phosphorus, but many countries still use the military. This dangerous weapon.