Re:The Phlogiston Theory – Wonderfully wrong but fantastical...
by thewarrior on Monday October 26, 2015 @06:34AM
(#10450490)
One of the more hilarious (in hindsight) explanations of Phlogiston theory is why a candle eventually goes out if you put a bowl over it.
We now know that it goes out because the reaction runs out of combustible oxygen. Since according to Phlogiston theory combustion involved a substance called Phlogiston being given off , they reasoned the candle went out because a given volume of air could only hold a given amount of Phlogiston.
They even tried to calculate the "maximum capacity of phlogisticated air".
However they weren't entirely wrong they just got it backwards. Phlogiston is basically minus oxygen. :) . So it spurred research in the right direction and eventually got us to the "more correct" explanation.
We now know that it goes out because the reaction runs out of combustible oxygen. Since according to Phlogiston theory combustion involved a substance called Phlogiston being given off , they reasoned the candle went out because a given volume of air could only hold a given amount of Phlogiston.
They even tried to calculate the "maximum capacity of phlogisticated air".
However they weren't entirely wrong they just got it backwards. Phlogiston is basically minus oxygen. :) . So it spurred research in the right direction and eventually got us to the "more correct" explanation.