Oxygen from Green Leaves under Water in Sunshine (Ingenhousz 1779)

Living leaves make oxygen in light. Put fresh leaves in a clear jar of water, stand it upside down in a tub of water in the sun, and the bubbles that rise from the leaves collect at the top of the jar. Result: 'dephlogisticated air' (oxygen), more or less pure according to the plant and the clearness of the day. A candle flame grows larger and dazzling in it. Source: Jan Ingen-Housz, Experiments upon Vegetables (1779), pp. 14-16, 28-30 and lviii. Not given: number of leaves, jar size, time. Picture drawn by Youblob.

مبتدئ

1 day

التعليمات

Pick leaves in daylight

Take leaves from trees or plants in the middle of a warm day and put them straight into cold fresh pump water. Leaves taken this way bubble quickest and give the best air.

المواد لهذه الخطوة:

أوراق نبات (متعددة)1 as required

الأدوات المطلوبة:

ماء

Set the jar upside down in water

Put the leaves in a very clear glass jar filled with fresh pump water. Stand the jar upside down in a tub full of the same water.

الأدوات المطلوبة:

حوض هوائي مع أوعية غاز

ماء

Put it in the sun

Set it at once in the open air, best in the sunshine. Bubbles form on the leaves, grow, break away and gather at the top of the jar, until the leaves are spent. Light does it, not warmth: by the fire, in shade or in a warm room without sun the air is bad.

الأدوات المطلوبة:

حوض هوائي مع أوعية غاز