CHM110H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Phlogiston Theory, Georg Ernst Stahl, Embalming
Document Summary
2 applications of chemistry used before 1000 bc: Processing of natural ores to make ornaments and weapons. Greeks were first to propose why chemical changes occur. They imposed that all matter was composed of 4 fundamental substances: Democritus used the term atomos" (later became atoms") to describe these particles. Since, they couldn"t experiment these ideas, no conclusion was formed. The first chemist to perform any quantitative experiments was robert boyle, who carefully measured the relationship between pressure and volume of gases. The phenomenon of combustion evoked intense interest during the 17th 18th centuries. George stahl suggested that substance, phlogiston, would flow out of a burning substance. He postulated that a substance burning in a closed container would stop burning due to the phlogiston that would saturate the air. Oxygen was originally called dephologisticated air because it was supposed to have less phlogiston. Lavoisier"s law of conservation of mass: mass is neither created or destroyed.
