ml The logic of De Despite efforts to teach logic and critical thinking inthe classroom, students will often give the answer that they think is expected. Perhaps a discredited theory from the 18th century can. help students see how different conclusions can be drawn from the same experiment, suggests Mike TingleFeature Phlogiston Science education should encourage students tomake deduetions and draw conclusions fromexperimental observations. However, atall levels students often draw conclusions based on what they believe tobe the expected ‘right answer,’ rather than by applying logic to their own observations, To tryand teach students to ook more critically at experimental results in the classroom, and beyond, the old theory of phogiston ean prove usefull once again, My dictionary defineslogicas the ‘science of reasoning, proof, thinking or inference; correct or incorrect use ofargument: Good scientists apply ogieto explain phenomena and develop theories, however, their inferences, arguments,and resulting conclusions, are not necessarily corret. ‘The phiogiston theory, foresample, was aceepted for more than 100 years. The theory held that materials that burned contained a fiteike element that was released asthe abject burned. So well entrenched was the theory that ‘when Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen i ‘774 he called i'dephlogisticated air, believing ‘that the mercuric oxide (o ely) hat he heated with sunlight had adsorbed phlogiston, removing i from the surrounding at. ‘Throughouthistory, theoriesthat ft the known evidence have been accepted, holding sway until further evidence ether disproves, them, orgives rise toan improved version, Insucha fashion, seienceand knowledge progress, but o students learning about this progression, their own modem knowledge ‘ean colour how they view superseded theories, and even their own science. The theory of phlogiston may seem nonsensical nowadays, Dutsuspending disbeliefand examining the evidence can help students to appreciate why it was accepted. Italso providesa useful exercise inapplying logic. Banishing all thoughts of oxygen requires students to explain experimental observations without being Influenced by the madetn ‘right answer’ The phlogiston theory [n11668, the German physician and alchemist Johann Becher published Physica Subterranea,! deseribing henature of ‘mineralsand other substances. Hedid not use the word ‘phlogiston’ but his ideas concerningeombustion, metalsand their extraction from rocks later formed the basis of the phlogiston theory.™* ‘Becher reasoned that materialsthat burn, ‘must contain a combustible eomponent, 2 fire-element’ updating the alehemical principle that materials are composed of different proportions of four components, ‘orelements: earth air, ire and water. He dismissed fire and ait, and instead proposed {hree forms earth element tera lapidea (stony rocky earth), terraflida liquid earth) Aan terra pingus (oily fatty earth). InBecher'stheory, ter pinguisisthe supposed fre-element; the component that makes a material eombustible. During ‘combustion, this component is released into ‘healt, with flames being the visible sign offtseseape. The residue, eg wood ash, is ‘lighter’ (meaningless dense) than the original ‘material evidence that somethings been Tost, explained by the escape of terapinguis, Similan heatinga metal in air produces cals, which is lighter than the metal forthe 1n11703, Georg Stahl, aGerman professor ‘of medicineand chemistry, published an extended version of Hecher’stheory, renaming terra pinguis as'phlogiston, from the Greek ona (inflame). stahl'stheory included the following ideas: « Allcombustiblesubstanees contain Phlogiston. «© The more phlogiston a substance contains, the betterand more completely itburns, Johann Becher left) and Gaorg Stan right) ‘© Combustion releases the phlogiston from the substance into the ir. The lame indicates the rapid eseape of phlogiston. Airis necessary for combustion because itabsorbs the escaping phlogiston. ‘Combustion ina elosed container soon stops, beeause the air inside becomes saturated with phlogiston-itbecomes | phlogisticated air. larly aris necessary for breathing. A creature placed inaclosed container dies because the ir eannotabsorb any more Phiogiston, socan no longer support i «© The residue orash left after combustion is called acalx. substance COmbustion > cals + phlogiston ‘© Caleining (strongly heating) ametal in airalso releases phlogiston, leaving the metals cals. metal > metal eal + phlogiston ‘This process the sameas combustion, buttakes longer. Theabsenee ofa flame indicates thatthe phlogiston iseseaping. more slowly and gradually «The calxorashislighter (less dense) than the metal because ithas lost phlogiston, catenin Chemie | January 2014 wine orc 3SLm Cy Folease ofphlogiston’ Negative weight pButwhile the phlogiston theory explained ‘many ofthe characteristics ofcombustion, there was problem wih caleining. Becher and Stahl knew that after heating a meta although acalx may be lighter" with regards to density, its weight is actually heavier than the original metal. Thishad been shown by Jean Reyin 1630," and confirmed by Robert Boylein 43673,’ To reconeile this fact withthe phlogiston theory, phlogiston was attributed with negative ‘weight or positive lightness'since it, ot rather its flame, tends to rse, rather than be attracted downwards by gravity "This conclusion was notas ridiculous asitnow seems. Inthe classroom one can conwvineingly demonstrate apparent negative weight mass) very easily with a simple experiment. Aballoon filled with hydrogen 205, for example, willweigh lesson a top-pan balance than an empty balloon. ‘You could challenge yourstudents to explain this impossible’ result. Even A-level students ae usually puzzled by the result. They [know that some gases are lighter than air, but the supposed phiogiston in thisexperiment appears to be lighterthan no air atall. They realise this ean’tbe tr, but few ean explain the anomaly, With their minds focused on chemistry, rather than physics, they forget, Weighing ‘phlogiston’ © Piaceanemptybalioon, about0 cmt string anda few centimeties ofsticky tapeonatop-panbalance. @ Tarethebalancetoreadzero, ¢¢ Fittneballoon with phlogiston (aka ‘hydrogen tietheneckand tapeitdown conto thebalancepan. # Thebalancewillnow show ane reading: ie themass of phlogiston added totheballoonisnegative. ‘Note: If thereisno hydrogencylinder available shorten the string ofa'phlogiston\ {aka helium) party balloon, tapeittothe balance pan, and tarethebalance.Burstthe balloon andplaceitonthepan. Thereadi ibe positive, Removing the phiogiston {nereases the mass, s0phloai havenegat Pian Ml and/or failto appreciate, that buoyancy applies {oobjects floatingin air aswell asin liquids ‘Atthe time of Becher and Stahl, the experiment would have been performed using ‘pig's bladder in place ofthe balloon, tyingit tone panof abeam balance. Explaining results without oxygen Inunderstanding why the phlogiston theory ‘was used toexplain experimental observations itisimportant to stress that, atthe time, no-one knew about oxygen. To emphasise this, ask students to imagine travelling back intime to around 1770 ~ several years before theworkof Priestley and Lavoisier led to the discovery of oxygen, Challenge them toexplain the following experimental results, without invoking oxygen. (A practical approach for uL-14yearoldsisavailable)* ‘a, Charcoal and coke burn leaving litle ash (cal, b.Heatinga metal eabxwith charcoal orcoke prociaces the metal (Thisis how copper, lead, tin and iron were obtained.) The ‘metal weighs less than the eal butis more dense. «Similarly, heating the ealxof copper, lead ‘or mercury with inflammable ara gas discovered in 1766) produces the metal. «4. When caleined (heated in air), someFeature Phlogiston ‘metals forma calx more easily than others. (Though unknown until the early 18005, the alkali and alkaline earth metals alsofitthe pattern. They are much less dense than other metals, and also burn to formacalx moreeasiy:) €.Thecalvofanalkali or alkaline earth metal cannot be turned into the metal by heating with chareoal, coke or inflammable ait. £. Heatinga powdered meta withthe calxofa dlifferene metal causesa reaction only ithe first metal formsacalx moreeasily than the second; egaine reats with lead eax, but ead will not react with ion cals £Addingiron, zinc or tin toanaeld produces inflammable irand a solution of ametal salt. Reacting the acd with ameta's eax instead of the metal gives solution ofthe same alt, but no inflammable at, 1 Inflammable ir (hydrogen), burns leavingnoash. However it does produce cals, which is gaseous, butcondenses toaliquid and can beshown to be water. (Remember, you donot know about ‘oxygen, soyoudonot know that waters hydrogen oxide.) i, Passing steam over red-hot coke produces {wogases, one of which sinflammablealt. 4 Burning sulfur produces a gaseous cals, soluble in water the ealxof inflammable ait) wo form an aed, This aed reaets with ‘many metals, producing inflammable air. The metals that reat with che acid most easly and quickly are those that form acals ‘mosteasly when heated ina. Burning marsh gas produces water vapour (theealxofinflammableait).ttalso produces soot ifthe air supply is restricted, but notifthereis plenty of at Thisexercise requires students to apply logic to the experimental results. Although they arenot specifically told toinvoke phlogiston instead of ‘oxygen, most will probably doso. They will find mmm that he theory, though false, doestitthe even modern vvignce Fromanith scientific century perspective, theoriesare _aferaccepting justtheories, negativewegheas Tate, demonstrated above, Notabsolute thephiogiston theory fact’ isremarkabiyalffieule todisprove. Having successfully explained a range of ‘observations usinga false formertheory, remindyour students that even modern scientific theories are just theories, not absolute fact. Hopefully, they wll be encouraged toadopta more inquiring mind, ratherthan blindly accepting received wisdom, Burning charcoal ite seh Eventually, the dominant theory of phlogiston was disproved. antoine-Laurent Lavoisiershowed that combustion requites agas that has weight (oxygen)and could bemeasured by means of weighing closed vessels. By using closed vessels Lavoisier negated the buoyaney that had disguised the weight ofgases of eombustion, solving the ‘weight paradoxand setting the stage fora new theory ofcombustion. Students often adjust ‘or misinterprettheir experimental resulist0 fitthe right answer. tn that mode they will never follow in che footsteps of Lavoisier, Hennig Brand, William Perkin, Lord Rayleigh, or Alexander Fleming, or many ofthe other scientists who made important discoveries by followingup unexpected results Mike Tingle is freelance author and educational consultant specialising in applied science References SMalenanae ‘945061 2httniFoR yiyDKGL Shrine y/Deie hp ot. yfgRre Ship ftp vaNose Shetni/or Sey? Thupsreeiyivscoag BD Warten, Chemists sociland historical context pls yal Sacelyof Chemistry, 2003, Inipfirce UISpAFaT) ten, School Science Review, 2012,