The first identified chemical element is oxygen.
-
J. Becher (1635-1682) studied fire, and considered burning released
phlogiston.
Metal ® Calx + phlogiston
-
Priestley learned that part of air supported combustion.
He found nitrous air (actually NO) combined with 1/5th
of good air to produce water-soluble air.
-
C.W. Scheele probably discovered oxygen in 1773.
-
Aug.1, 1774, Joseph Priestly obtained a colorless gas by heating mercury
oxide (mercurius calcinatus per se). Candles burn brightly in his
gas.
-
Priestley came by Paris and told Lavoisier of his experiment.
Lavoisier repeated the experiment, and considered oxygen a chemicl element,
after much work.
-
Priestley accepted Lavoisier's conclusion only at old age.
-
Oxygen, the most abundant element of Earth crust (mostly SiO2,
and Al2O3) exists as O2 and O3
(ozone) in the atmosphere.