Abstract
Although there has been some controversy surrounding exactly when oxygen was first discovered, it is likely that that accolade should go to Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who isolated oxygen in 1772, or even a year earlier. Others since then have been given the credit for the instrumental work leading to the discovery including Joseph Priestley in 1774 and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier. Oxygen, a paramagnetic, diradical gaseous (at room temperature) molecule, is instrumental to life as we know it. It is also crucial to some medical therapies, used in multiple industries and has even been found on other planets. The importance of oxygen cannot be overplayed. Now, 250 years since oxygen was discovered, it is timely to revisit some of the history, the controversies and look at how oxygen has evolved during that time. Here, a few of the highlights in oxygen research are discussed.
Highlights
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Partington and Mckie [2] discussed the identity of phlogiston and said it was considered to be “negative oxygen”, or hydrogen, or “phlogiston must be a very simple body, known only from its effects, since opinions are always more in accord about compound and visible bodies (Leonhardi . . . 1788 . . . )”
It is thought that the generation of oxygen from photosynthesis started approximately 3.8 billion years ago, most of it would have been produced in the oceans and it would have reacted with the minerals from the weathering and runoff from rocks, partly Fe2+ which left the iron deposits seen today
Summary
It was not always known that oxygen existed, with other theories about chemical composition being popular in the 18th century. The scientific thinking, as Neville [1] points out, was dominated by three philosophies:. “(1) the Aristotelian theory of the four ‘elements’ Phlogiston was the hypothetical theory of fire and was a constituent of all combustible material. What would be described as oxidation was thought to be the release of phlogiston and the material left behind, such as ash, would be considered as a dephlogisticated substance. Partington and Mckie [2] discussed the identity of phlogiston and said it was considered to be “negative oxygen”, or hydrogen, or “phlogiston must be a very simple body, known only from its effects, since opinions are always more in accord about compound and visible bodies
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