Juan David Castro

Chemistry 11.3

Teacher Lineth Tuñon

Chemistry Explorers: The Case of Combustion

In the 1700s it was thought the combustion was the decomposition of a material into
simpler substances. This time they also did not use measurements when doing
experiments. Scientist proposed a theory that combustion depended on the emission of
phlogiston. Many experiments led to this theory being universally accepted. One of
those experiments was Rutherford’s. In which he named a substance phlogisticated air.
Years later another scientist by the name of Priestley name another substance
dephlogisticated air. Then, Antoine Lavoisier started experimenting, but he decided to
measure all his experiments. While doing this he found out that the mass of the
reactants was equal to the mass of the products. Based on this he did another
experiment in which he put tin in a closed vessel and then burned the tin. After this he
saw that the mass of the reactants was not the same as the product so that meant that
some of the air had reacted with the tin. Then he concluded that air was not an element,
but it was a mixture of 2 gases which where Prisley’s dephlogisticated air and
Rutherford’s phlogisticated air. Lavoisier helped establish chemistry as a science and
published one of the first chemistry textbooks. These accomplishments earned
Lavoisier his reputation of being the father of chemistry.

In Lavoisier’s experiment the massive thin increases went in

seated in air because the mass of the air is added to the tin.
Prisley’s dephlogisticated air was oxygen and Rutherford’s
phlogisticated air was mostly nitrogen while it had traces of
other gases. After Lavoisier published his experiment many
other scientists discovered things that would confirm
Lavoisier’s experiment. After Lavoisier It was Sir Humphrey
Davy who also experimented on compassion with his
investigations leading too the discovery of catalytic
combustion. Despite all these discoveries theory of
combustion lacked the concept of energy in combustion. It
was Sir Benjamin Thompson’s experiments which uncovered
evidence for heat being a movement of particles. The
development of the kinetic theory of gases and other
theories finally revealed the aspect of energy in combustion. The investigation of
several other experiments like burning velocities, order of events in combustion of gas
mixtures and many more played a crucial part in refining theories about combustion.

The scientific method is a way of getting knowledge

that has been used since the 17th century. It requires
observations and asking questions of what is
observed. And involves forming hypothesis based on
your observations, experiments based off your
hypothesis and the refinement or elimination of your
hypothesis based on the data acquired via your
experiments. The steps of the scientific method are
make an observation, ask a question, make a
hypothesis, make a prediction based off your
hypothesis, experiment, use your results to make a
new hypothesis or predictions. What Daniel Rutherford
named “Phlogisticated air” is know known as mostly
nitrogen and other atmospheric gases. And what Priestley called “Dephlogisticated air”
is know known as oxygen. I do not think Lavoisier’s theory was immediately accepted
because it went against everything scientists believed at the time. So, I think many
years and many experiments would have had to pass for Lavoisier’s theory to be
universally accepted.
 Bibliography

https://www.britannica.com/science/combustion/History-of-the-study-of-combustion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method