Composition of air
Composición del aire (mezcla de oxígeno y nitrógeno)
- Date
- 1777 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris (Arsenal), France
- Credited to
- Antoine Lavoisier (with contributions from Scheele, Rutherford and Cavendish)
- People
- 👤 Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier1743–1794
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Lavoisier establishes that air is a mixture of about one-fifth 'eminently respirable air' (oxygen) and four-fifths 'azote' (nitrogen), inert for combustion. Cavendish would measure a 1% residue in 1785 (the future noble gases).
What it led to
- Atmospheric chemistry
- Discovery of argon
- Respiratory physiology
Built on
- Scheele's fire air
- Rutherford's phlogisticated air
Made possible
- eudiometer
- air analysis