In a series of
experiments concluding in 1774, Joseph Priestley, British Presbyterian minister
and chemist found that “air is not an elementary substance, but a composition,”
or mixture, of gases. On this day in 1774, he found that among them was the
colourless and highly reactive gas he called “dephlogisticated air,” to which
the great French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier would soon give the name “Oxygen.”
Priestley found that mercury heated in air became coated with ‘red rust’ of
mercury, which, when heated separately, was converted back to mercury with ‘air’
given off. Studying this air, he observed that candles burned very brightly in
it, and that a mouse in a sealed vessel could breathe this gas much longer than
ordinary air. Friday, 1 August 2014
ON THIS DAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY - 1ST AUGUST 2014
In a series of
experiments concluding in 1774, Joseph Priestley, British Presbyterian minister
and chemist found that “air is not an elementary substance, but a composition,”
or mixture, of gases. On this day in 1774, he found that among them was the
colourless and highly reactive gas he called “dephlogisticated air,” to which
the great French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier would soon give the name “Oxygen.”
Priestley found that mercury heated in air became coated with ‘red rust’ of
mercury, which, when heated separately, was converted back to mercury with ‘air’
given off. Studying this air, he observed that candles burned very brightly in
it, and that a mouse in a sealed vessel could breathe this gas much longer than
ordinary air. 
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