Phlogiston theory was a 17th century attempt to explain oxidation processes, such as fire and rust. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar

The phlogiston theory (from the Ancient Greek φλογιστόν phlŏgistón "burning up," from φλόξ phlóx "fire"), first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that posited the existence of, in addition to the classical four elements of the Greeks, an additional fire-like element called “phlogiston” that was contained within combustible bodies, and released during combustion. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c Johann Joachim Becher (6 May 1635 &ndash October 1682 was a German Physician, alchemist, precursor of Chemistry, scholar and adventurer best superseded, or obsolete scientific theory is a Scientific theory that was once commonly accepted but that is no longer considered the most complete description of Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical "elements" to explain patterns in Nature. Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of Exothermic chemical reactions between a Fuel and an Oxidant accompanied by the production of The theory was an attempt to explain oxidation processes such as combustion and the rusting of metals. Redox (shorthand for reduction-oxidation reaction describes all Chemical reactions in which atoms have their Oxidation number ( Oxidation state Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of Exothermic chemical reactions between a Fuel and an Oxidant accompanied by the production of Rust is a general term for a series of Iron oxides, usually red oxides formed by the reaction of Iron with Oxygen in the presence of water or air

Biography

In 1667, Johann Joachim Becher, published his Physical Education, which was the first mention of what would become the phlogiston theory. Johann Joachim Becher (6 May 1635 &ndash October 1682 was a German Physician, alchemist, precursor of Chemistry, scholar and adventurer best Traditionally, alchemists considered that there were four classical elements: fire, water, air, and earth. Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical "elements" to explain patterns in Nature. In his book, Becher eliminated fire and air from the classical element model and replaced them with three forms of earth: terra lapidea, terra fluida, and terra pinguis. ^[1][2]

In Becher's theory, presence of terra lapidea, represented the degree of fusibility. Fusibility is the ease with which a material will Melt. Materials such as solder require a low melting point so that when heat is applied to a joint the solder will melt before Terra fluida, indicated the degree of fluidity, subtility, volatility, and metallicity. Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a Fluid which is being deformed by either Shear stress or Extensional stress. Volatility in the context of Chemistry, Physics and Thermodynamics is a measure of the tendency of a substance to Vaporize. The M acro E xpansion T emplate A ttribute L anguage complements TAL, providing macros which allow the reuse of code across Terra pinguis was the element which imparted oily, sulphurous, or combustible properties. An oil is a substance that is in a viscous Liquid state ( "oily") at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer and is Sulfur or sulphur (ˈsʌlfɚ see spelling below) is the Chemical element that has the Atomic number 16 ^[3] Becher believed that terra pinguis was a key feature of combustion and was released when combustible substances were burned. ^[1]

Georg Ernst Stahl, a German chemist, was a student of Becher's who expanded on his theories with several publications in the period between 1703 and 1731. Georg Ernst Stahl ( October 21, 1660 &ndash May 24, 1734) was a German Chemist and Physician. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A chemist is a Scientist trained in the Science of Chemistry. The year 1703 in Science and Technology involved some significant events The year 1731 in Science and Technology involved some significant events ^[1] In a 1718 work, Stahl was the first to rename terra pinguis as phlogiston from the Ancient Greek phlogios for "fiery". The year 1718 in Science and Technology involved some significant events The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c ^[3] Stahl's work analyzed the role of phlogiston in combustion and calcination, the 17th century term for oxidation. Redox (shorthand for reduction-oxidation reaction describes all Chemical reactions in which atoms have their Oxidation number ( Oxidation state ^[1]

Theory

The theory holds that all inflammable materials contain phlogiston, a substance without colour, odour, taste, or mass that is liberated in burning. Flammability is the ease with which a substance will ignite causing Fire or Combustion. Taste (or more formally gustation) is a form of direct Chemoreception and is one of the traditional five Senses Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object Once burned, the "dephlogisticated" substance was held to be in its "true" form, the calx. Calx is a residual substance sometimes in the form of a fine powder that is left when a Metal or Mineral combusts or is calcinated due to heat

"Phlogisticated" substances are those that contain phlogiston and are "dephlogisticated" when burned; "in general, substances that burned in air were said to be rich in phlogiston; the fact that combustion soon ceased in an enclosed space was taken as clear-cut evidence that air had the capacity to absorb only a definite amount of phlogiston. When air had become completely phlogisticated it would no longer serve to support combustion of any material, nor would a metal heated in it yield a calx; nor could phlogisticated air support life, for the role of air in respiration was to remove the phlogiston from the body. "^[4] Thus, phlogiston as first conceived was a sort of anti-oxygen.

Joseph Black's student Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772 and the pair used the theory to explain his results. Joseph Black ( April 16, 1728 &ndash December 6, 1799) was a Scottish Physicist and Chemist, known for his Daniel Rutherford ( 3 November 1749 &ndash 15 November 1819) was a Scottish Chemist and Physician who was most Nitrogen (ˈnaɪtɹəʤɪn is a Chemical element that has the symbol N and Atomic number 7 and Atomic weight 14 Year 1772 ( MDCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The residue of air left after burning, in fact a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, was sometimes referred to as "phlogisticated air", having taken up all of the phlogiston. Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single Conversely, when oxygen was first discovered it was thought to be "dephlogisticated air", capable of combining with more phlogiston and thus supporting combustion for longer than ordinary air. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the

Challenge and demise

Eventually, quantitative experiments revealed problems, including the fact that some metals, such as magnesium, gained weight when they burned, even though they were supposed to have lost phlogiston. In scientific inquiry an experiment ( Latin: Ex- periri, "to try out" is a method of investigating particular types of research questions or Magnesium (mægˈniːziəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Mg, Atomic number 12 Atomic weight 24 Mikhail Lomonosov attempted to repeat Robert Boyle's celebrated experiment in 1753 and concluded that the phlogiston theory was false. Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Михаи́л Васи́льевич Ломоно́сов () was a Russian Polymath, scientist Robert Boyle was a Natural philosopher, chemist physicist inventor and early Gentleman scientist, noted for his work in Physics and Chemistry He wrote in his diary: "Today I made an experiment in hermetic glass vessels in order to determine whether the mass of metals increases from the action of pure heat. The experiment demonstrated that the famous Robert Boyle was deluded, for without access of air from outside, the mass of the burnt metal remains the same. "

Some phlogiston proponents explained this by concluding that phlogiston had negative weight; others, such as Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, gave the more conventional argument that it was lighter than air. Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (also Guyton-Morveau after the French Revolution; January 4, 1737 &ndash January 2, 1816 However, a more detailed analysis based on the Archimedean principle and the densities of magnesium and its combustion product shows that just being lighter than air cannot account for the increase in mass. In Abstract algebra, the Archimedean property, named after the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse, is a property held by some groups

Still, phlogiston remained the dominant theory until Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier showed that combustion requires a gas which has weight (oxygen), which could be measured by means of weighing closed vessels. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the The use of closed vessels also negated the buoyancy which had disguised the weight of the gasses of combustion. These observations solved the weight paradox and set the stage for the new caloric theory of combustion. In some respects, the phlogiston theory can be seen as the opposite of the modern "oxygen theory". The phlogiston theory states that all flammable materials contain phlogiston that is liberated in burning, leaving the "dephlogisticated" substance in its "true" calx form. In the modern theory, on the other hand, flammable materials (and unrusted metals) are "deoxygenated" when in their pure form and become oxygenated when burned. However, the first part of the old theory requires that phlogiston has weight (since ashes weigh less), but the second requires that it have no weight or negative weight, since corroded metals weigh the same or more, depending on whether or not they are allowed to corrode in sealed chambers.

Enduring aspects

Phlogiston theory allowed chemists to bring explanation of apparently different phenomena into a coherent structure: combustion, metabolism, and formation of rust. Metabolism is the set of Chemical reactions that occur in living Organisms in order to maintain Life. The recognition of the relation between combustion and metabolism was a forerunner of the recognition that the metabolism of living creatures and combustion can be understood in terms of fundamentally related chemical processes. The nearest comparable contemporary concept is entropy, whereby the amount of phlogiston in a system would be inversely proportional to its entropy. In Thermodynamics (a branch of Physics) entropy, symbolized by S, is a measure of the unavailability of a system ’s Energy

In popular culture

Dinosaur Comics discussed phlogiston in its July 5, 2005 edition of the comic. Dinosaur Comics is a constrained Webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. T-Rex concluded that the theory is close to the current combustion theory, but reversed. Phlogiston is also explored in chapter 2 of Colin Bruce's The Einstein Paradox and Other Science Mysteries Solved by Sherlock Holmes (Helix Books, 1997). The focus is on explaining phlogiston as a predecessor to conservation of energy.

Phlogiston features in the science fiction short story ". The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such . . The World, As We Know'T" by Howard Waldrop. Howard Waldrop (born September 15, 1946, in Houston Mississippi) is a Science fiction author who works primarily in Short fiction In the story, a post-American Revolution scientist proves that phlogiston is real, with catastrophic results. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" A scientist, in the broadest sense refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire Knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices

The 1991 computer game Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams involved a "space cannon" that used phlogistonite to send a capsule to Mars. Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2 Martian Dreams is a computer RPG set in the Ultima series published in 1991.

Phlogiston is briefly referred to in the final chapter of Michael Crichton's The Lost World.

Bonobo Conspiracy mentions phlogiston in Episode #907.

In the Dungeons & Dragons Spelljammer setting, Phlogiston was given as the name of the mysterious substance in which the crystal spheres which contained the planets bobbed around. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by Spelljammer (1989 is a It was highly flammable, a considerable problem for ships attempting to traverse the Phlogiston.

In World of Warcraft, Phlogiston is a source of fuel for various inventions. World of Warcraft (commonly acronymed as WoW) is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG

Within Issue 6 of the Tom Strong comic book series, antagonist Paul Saveen attempts to burn Tom to death using "liquid phlogiston". Tom Strong is a Comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Chris Sprouse initially published bi-monthly by America's Best Comics Later in the same issue, the scene is revisited in the future with Paul Saveen acknowledging that phlogiston never existed and that it's a curious thing that it functioned as it did when in the past.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. briefly mentions phlogiston in his novel Jailbird. Kurt Vonnegut Jr (November 11 1922 – April 11 2007 (ˈvɒnəgət was a prolific and genre-bending American Novelist known for works blending Satire, Black Jailbird is a Novel by Kurt Vonnegut, originally published in 1979.

References