Lessons in elementary chemistry : inorganic and organic / by Henry E. Roscoe.

Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lessons in elementary chemistry : inorganic and organic / by Henry E. Roscoe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    II.] OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN. LESSON II. NON-METALLIC ELEMENTS. In the present work we shall consider the properties of the non-metals and their compounds in the following order :— Oxygen. Hydrogen. nitrogen. Carbon. Chlorine. Bromine. Iodine. Fluorine. Sulphur. Selenium. Tellurium. Silicon. Boron. Phosphorus. Arsenic. oxygen. Symbol O. Combining weight 16. Density 16. Oxygen is a colourless invisible gas, possessing neither taste nor smell. It exists in the free state in the atmosphere, of which it constitutes about one-fifth by bulk, whilst, in combination with the other elements, it forms nearly half the weight of the solid earth, and eight-ninths by weight of water. Oxygen was discovered in the year 1774 by Priestley, and independently in 1775 by Scheele. Lavoisier first clearly pointed out in 1778 the part played by oxygen, and explained the chemical changes that go on when bodies burn in the air. The birth of the modern science of chemistry may be dated from the discovery of oxygen. Oxygen gas can be prepared from the air, but it is more easily obtained from many compounds which contain it