The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: The Combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen into Water

Henry Cavendish
13 pages (2008/1915); 156KB download
WOWIO Books; ISBN: WOWIO-00418

DESCRIPTION

The transition from one’s interpreting the world through alchemy to utilizing a world view anchored in a perspective based on chemistry took well over a century. Alchemic efforts, like finding cure-alls for disease or transmuting base metals into gold, slowly fell under the flow of scientific discoveries.

The branch of science known as chemistry emerged as empirical study yielded insight into the composition of substances, and of the changes which they undergo in consequence of alterations in the constitution of the molecules, particularly at the atomic and molecular level.

The WOWIO series “The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry” is a set of essays that collectively provide an introduction outlining this transition from alchemy to chemistry. The discoveries and corresponding original essays in this series include:

• Robert Boyle: discovery of the influence of pressure on air and forming the “Law of Compressibility of Gases”—“The Discovery of Boyle’s Law” by Thomas Thorpe

• Joseph Black: discovery of carbonic acid gas and the principle of latent heat—“The Discovery of Carbonic Acid Gas” by Joseph Black

• Joseph Priestley: discovery of oxygen—“The Discovery of Oxygen” by Joseph Priestley

• Henry Cavendish: discovery of hydrogen and the combination of hydrogen and oxygen into water—“The Combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen into Water” by Henry Cavendish

• Antoine Laurent Lavoisier: understanding combustion and the persistence of matter—“Matter and Combustion” by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier