phlogiston theory
Obsolete fire explanation
Phlogiston theory was an 18th-century explanation for combustion, proposing that flammable materials contained a fire-like element called phlogiston that was released during burning.
The theory explained why materials lost weight when burned—the phlogiston escaped.
It was superseded by Lavoisier's discovery that combustion involves oxygen combining with materials rather than something leaving them.
Now invoked as a classic example of discarded scientific ideas: Climate denial is the phlogiston theory of our era.
Burning gas made visible
- burningCombustion in progress
- fuelEnergy source material
- ignitionStarting combustion process
- charringBurning surface black
calcination · smelting · oxidation · reduction · ash · sulfur · coal · candle
Replaced by something newer
- refutedProved an argument false
- debunkedExposed as fraudulent
- disprovenShown by evidence false
- antiquatedOld and outdated
abandoned · discredited · falsified · replaced · outmoded · historical · pre-modern · erroneous
Modern chemistry's founder
Complete change of form
- philosopher's stoneLegendary substance enabling transmutation
- hermeticismAirtight, impervious condition
- quintessencePurest embodiment of something
- elixir of lifeLegendary immortality concoction
magnum opus · alchemists · tincture · albedo · nigredo · homunculus
flame
Burning gas made visible
charring · calcination · smelting · oxidation · reduction · ash · sulfur · coal · candle · respiration
superseded
Replaced by something newer
antiquated · abandoned · discredited · falsified · replaced · outmoded · historical · pre-modern · erroneous · invalidated
Lavoisier
Modern chemistry's founder
transmutation
Complete change of form
- philosopher's stoneLegendary substance enabling transmutation
- hermeticismAirtight, impervious condition
- quintessencePurest embodiment of something
elixir of life · magnum opus · alchemists · tincture · albedo · nigredo · homunculus
- Science Historyscientific revolution, natural philosophy, scientific method, scientific journals, Royal Society
- debunked beliefsflat earth, spontaneous generation, geocentrism, phrenology, caloric theory
- Enlightenment ScienceLavoisier, Linnaeus, Euler, Laplace, Franklin
- obsolete scienceaether, ether, caloric, miasma, humours
- scientific theoriesatomic theory, evolution, big bang theory, quantum theory, string theory
- debunked sciencespontaneous generation, cold fusion, vitalism, phrenology