solid samples of the element phosphorous can be white, black, or red in color.?

Question

The varitaians in color are due to different..... atomic masses , molecular structures, ionization energies, or nuclear charges?

Answer 1

The variations are due to different arrangements of the atoms in the solid's structure. All the details for each colour are in the wikipedia link.

Answer 2

These different samples are the different allotropes of phosphorus. They have the same atomic masses, ionization energies and nuclear charges.
Allotropes of an element have different arrangements of atoms in their structure. Thus they exhibit different physical properties but almost similar chemical properties.
White phosphorus (P4) exists as individual molecules made up of only four atoms in a tetrahedral arrangement, resulting in very high ring strain and instability. White phosphorus, is a yellow, waxy transparent solid. For this reason it is also called yellow phosphorus. It glows greenish in the dark (when exposed to oxygen), is highly flammable and pyrophoric (self-igniting) upon contact with air as well as toxic (causing severe liver damage on ingestion).
Red phosphorus may be formed by heating white phosphorus to 250°C (482°F) or by exposing white phosphorus to sunlight. Red phosphorus exists as a network of atoms which reduces strain and gives greater stability.
Black phosphorus has an orthorhombic structure and is the least reactive allotrope.
Other examples of allotopes are Diamond and Graphite which are isotopes of carbon.

Answer 3

i'm uncertain on the subject of the black, yet I certainly have seen pink, white and yellow. pink is a superb, oftentimes a powder, which in all fairness solid. White and yellow are very reactive solids and could be stored in water because of the fact they burst into flames whilst they arrive into touch with the air. they're each and each of a similar atoms, in basic terms arranged in distinctive procedures. that's sort of a similar way that Carbon would be interior the kind of diamonds or graphite; they're the proper same atoms, in basic terms arranged in any different case interior the crystals.