caloric theory
Fluid of warmth
Caloric theory was an 18th- and 19th-century explanation of heat as a weightless, invisible fluid called caloric that flowed from hotter to colder bodies.
The theory explained phenomena like thermal expansion and heat transfer but was eventually displaced by the kinetic theory, which understands heat as molecular motion.
Now referenced mainly in histories of science: Before thermodynamics, caloric theory dominated physics.
- phlogistonHypothetical fire essence
- corpuscular theoryLight composed of particles
- conductionHeat transfer through contact
- Aristotelian physicsAncient Greek motion theory
- convectionHeat transfer via motion
ether · entropy · latent heat · substance · weightless · radiation · fluid · heat flow · second law of thermodynamics · vitalism · conservation of energy · kinetic theory · specific heat · heat engines · thermal equilibrium · obsolete · fire · burning
- chemistry historyphlogiston, combustion, chemical equations, Joseph Priestley, nomenclature
- debunked beliefsflat earth, phlogiston, spontaneous generation, geocentrism, phrenology
- obsolete sciencephlogiston, aether, phlogiston theory, ether, miasma
- old chemistryphlogiston, alchemy, aqua regia, muriatic acid, quicksilver
- physics theoriesatomic theory, quantum mechanics, relativity, classical mechanics, thermodynamics
- thermodynamicsentropy, enthalpy, heat transfer, free energy, heat capacity