Red Phosphorus and Violet Phosphorus (Polymeric)

Red Phosphorus has more atoms linked together in a network than white phosphorus does, which makes it much more stable. It is not quite as flammable, but given enough energy it still reacts with air. For this reason, we now use red phosphorus in matches.

Figure 1: red phosphorus is in safety matches.

Violet phosphorus is obtained from heating and crystallizing red phosphorus in a certain way. The phosphorus forms pentagonal "tubes".

Figure 2. Structure of Violet Phosphorus.