[OTI]

So the question is this:

When white phosphorus burns in air it produces solid diphosphorus pentaoxide, one of the major components of firework ash. Write a balanced equation for this reaction.


So I end up with this:

P4 + (Something) ------> P205


So my question is what does it mean when it says "burns in air"? How does that translate formula wise?

[mikasaur]

Another word for burning is combustion. Do you know about combustion reactions? What is required for a combustion reaction?

[OTI]

O

Im stupid. wow. Thanks!

[mikasaur]

You're not stupid. Just learning.

For the future, though, you'd be surprised how much you can learn from using Google and Wikipedia. I simply searched the term "Burning" in Wikipedia and was directed to this article on combustion which explains that combustion usually occurs with atmospheric oxygen.

From there you can Google combustion of phosphorus and the second result is this article. But be careful about simply Googling the answers to questions though!! This can backfire as you might not actually learn the material. Learning to be resourceful on your own is good, but don't do it at the detriment of actually learning!