I have some questions regarding a series of experiments, first by Joseph Priestley, and then by Antoine Lavoisier, at around 1775.
Though i already read a couple of wiki articles on this (for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley), wiki is not always reliable, and i have a specific set of questions i would wish to be answered if some posters here can do so... So first i will give a synopsis of what i read, and then pose the questions:
Wiki notes that Priestley run his experiments on "types of air", not using water to isolate the jar/hollow object with the air, but through heating mercury oxide by means of a heating lens (ie some sort of mirror which concentrates sun-rays). So the (solid) red mercury oxide decomposed from coming into contact with the strong sunlight, and part of the product was purer O2 (oxygen). Priestley noted that the new product (yet un-named) was causing either the candle light in the hollow object to burn brighter, and/or any experiment animal (such as a mouse) to appear to be more lively than before.
Priestley was working under the premise that air can be typed more than it was at the time, and using a concurrent theory, that of the so-called 'phlogiston'. 'Phlogiston' is a Greek term, meaning "able to burn", and the theory was that air had some part which was solely responsible for this ability, and if it burned out the rest of the air was thus unable to burn more (and supposedly that would be why candles go out if only nitrogen remains).
My questions:
1) Can you provide a link, or post a brief synopsis of the method Priestley used for his air experiments? Namely the apparatus.
2) Was Priestley's proposed name for the 'new' type of discovered air to be called 'burnable'/'phlogistated'? (tied to the third question: )
3) Lavoisier ended up naming the new type as Oxygen. Was that due to him thinking that only oxygen can cause oxidation-like chemical events? (wiki's account)
4) I read in other articles that Lavoisier's method of making his hollow containers 'air-tight' was one which in reality did not end up leaving just nitrogen in the container, but also things like argon (another byproduct of the burning). Can anyone go into a little detail on this? More specifically what sort of method left such an outcome, and why?
Thanks in advance
As usual i need all this as part of the secondary symbols of a new short story, much like i needed the info i had once requested about corpse decomposition. Pls do not notify any intelligence agency
Though i already read a couple of wiki articles on this (for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley), wiki is not always reliable, and i have a specific set of questions i would wish to be answered if some posters here can do so... So first i will give a synopsis of what i read, and then pose the questions:
Wiki notes that Priestley run his experiments on "types of air", not using water to isolate the jar/hollow object with the air, but through heating mercury oxide by means of a heating lens (ie some sort of mirror which concentrates sun-rays). So the (solid) red mercury oxide decomposed from coming into contact with the strong sunlight, and part of the product was purer O2 (oxygen). Priestley noted that the new product (yet un-named) was causing either the candle light in the hollow object to burn brighter, and/or any experiment animal (such as a mouse) to appear to be more lively than before.
Priestley was working under the premise that air can be typed more than it was at the time, and using a concurrent theory, that of the so-called 'phlogiston'. 'Phlogiston' is a Greek term, meaning "able to burn", and the theory was that air had some part which was solely responsible for this ability, and if it burned out the rest of the air was thus unable to burn more (and supposedly that would be why candles go out if only nitrogen remains).
My questions:
1) Can you provide a link, or post a brief synopsis of the method Priestley used for his air experiments? Namely the apparatus.
2) Was Priestley's proposed name for the 'new' type of discovered air to be called 'burnable'/'phlogistated'? (tied to the third question: )
3) Lavoisier ended up naming the new type as Oxygen. Was that due to him thinking that only oxygen can cause oxidation-like chemical events? (wiki's account)
4) I read in other articles that Lavoisier's method of making his hollow containers 'air-tight' was one which in reality did not end up leaving just nitrogen in the container, but also things like argon (another byproduct of the burning). Can anyone go into a little detail on this? More specifically what sort of method left such an outcome, and why?
Thanks in advance
As usual i need all this as part of the secondary symbols of a new short story, much like i needed the info i had once requested about corpse decomposition. Pls do not notify any intelligence agency
