The Rise and Fall of the Phlogiston Theory of Fire
Overview
At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Phlogiston theory of fire dominated. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, the Phlogiston theory had been overturned by the new concept of the combustion of oxygen. The overthrow of the Phlogiston theory of fire is often presented as a shining example of the triumph of good science over bad, yet the saga is one of many false starts, false experiments, and false assumptions. Personalities, social and cultural influences, and the new emphasis on experimental analysis and natural causes combined to challenge and replace the Phlogiston theory.
Background
The Greek philosophers considered fire to be one of the basic elements of nature, offering a number of different interpretations. Heraclitus of Ephesus (about 535-475 B.C.) made fire the universal force of creation. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) called fire one of the great principles of all things. Plato (427-347 B.C.), Aristotle's teacher, suggested that burnable objects contained within them some inflammable principle, a substance that made them burn, but it was Aristotle's ideas that dominated medieval European thought.
Aristotle's fire was part of a four-element system consisting of air, earth, fire, and water.
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