Skip to content
LITHOEN

Chemical element

Phosphorus

A minor element concentrated almost entirely in phosphate minerals, which in turn concentrate many trace elements.

Classification

atomic number
15
symbol
P
block
p

How this record is known

3
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.

3 of 3 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

Established15 protons

Phosphorus has atomic number 15: its nucleus contains 15 protons, and that is what makes it phosphorus.

  • definition basis: Atomic number is definitional: an atom with a different proton count is a different element, whatever else it shares.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (IUPAC) 2024 Primary authority

Established30.973762 u

The standard atomic weight of phosphorus is 30.973761998(5), a single value because its isotopic composition does not vary appreciably between normal materials.

  • definition basis: CIAAW Standard Atomic Weights 2024; the parenthesised digits are the uncertainty in the last figures as published.
  • precision note: A property of the element as found in normal materials, not the mass of any individual atom.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (IUPAC) 2024 Primary authority

Record last updated 2026-09-06. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.