Priestley, Joseph apparatus

Badash, L., Joseph Priestley s Apparatus tor Pneumatic Chemistry , Journal of the History of Medicine, 19 (1964), pp. 139-55. 

There had been isolated British chemists of distinction in the eighteenth century We have encountered some of them, most notably Joseph Priestley and Joseph Black. Priestley had taught in a dissenting academy, and the members of the private and informal Lunar Society of Birmingham had supported his research. He had had to teach himself the techniques of research and to devise a good deal of his own apparatus. He did not have students or assistants... 

FIGURE 198. Collage of Joseph Priestley s pneumatic apparatus. A gun barrel is used as reaction chamtx and placed in a fireplace. The resulting gases, if water-soluble, are collected over mercury (Fig. 11). 

It is used in metallurgical processes, in high-temperature flames (e.g. for welding), and in breathing apparatus. The common form is diatomic (dloxygen, Oj) there is also a reactive allotrope ozone (O3). Chemically, oxygen reacts with most other elements forming oxides. The element was discovered by Joseph Priestley in 1774. 

Soda water (Joseph Priestley) Priestley creates the first soda water, water charged with carbon dioxide gas. The following year he develops an apparatus for collecting gases by mercury displacement that would otherwise dissolve in water. 

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