Category: Phlogiston
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Chemistry: A Volatile History
Chemistry: A Volatile History is a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of chemistry presented by Jim Al-Khalili. It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category Specialist Factual. Episode 1: Discovering the Elements Introduction Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction. The Ancient Greeks,…
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Calcination
Calcination is thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), generally for the purpose of removing impurities or volatile substances and/or to incur thermal decomposition. The root of the word calcination refers to its most prominent use, which is to remove…
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Joseph Priestley
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 1733-1804 English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, globetrotter, liberal political theorist and discoverer of oxygen read about Pristley at wikipedia Priestley is credited with the independent discovery of oxygen by the thermal decomposition of mercuric oxide, having isolated it in 1774. During his lifetime, Priestley’s considerable scientific reputation rested on…
