Oxygen Was Almost Named Nitrogen

Jill K Lanahan1, Theodore A Alston2

  • 1Department of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, C W N L1 Anesthesia, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115.

Summary

John Mayow identified a "nitro-aerial spirit" in air, crucial for respiration and combustion. This spirit, later understood as oxygen, originates from niter (potassium nitrate), the key oxidant in gunpowder.

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