Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) was an English natural philosopher and chemist who identified hydrogen and measured Earth’s mean density using a torsion balance.

Cavendish experiment: A torsion-balance experiment that measured the gravitational attraction between known masses and enabled calculation of Earth’s mean density. Cavendish’s best-known measurement used this apparatus and method.
Torsion balance: An instrument that measures small forces by the twisting of a suspended wire or fiber. A suspended torsion balance detected the weak attraction between lead masses.
Charles Cavendish: An English politician and natural philosopher who supported scientific research and was Henry Cavendish’s father. His family connections and scientific interests shaped Cavendish’s early environment.
Antoine Lavoisier: A French chemist who helped establish modern chemical nomenclature and explained combustion through oxygen. Lavoisier gave hydrogen its name and reframed gas chemistry beyond Cavendish’s phlogiston-era interpretation.
Gravitational constant: The proportionality constant in Newton’s law of universal gravitation, denoted G. Cavendish’s experiment later became a way to determine this constant.
Hydrogen: The chemical element with atomic number 1, the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. Cavendish generated and characterized the gas he called inflammable air, now identified as hydrogen.
University of Cambridge: A public research university in Cambridge, England, founded in 1209. Cavendish studied there but left without taking a degree.
Joseph Black: A Scottish chemist and physician who identified carbon dioxide and developed the concept of latent heat. Black’s work on fixed air exemplifies the gas research that preceded Cavendish.
Earth's mass: The total mass of Earth, inferred from its gravitational effects and physical models. His density measurement made Earth’s mass calculable when combined with its volume.
Phlogiston theory: An obsolete theory that explained combustion and calcination through the release of a substance called phlogiston. Cavendish interpreted some gas reactions within a framework later displaced by oxygen chemistry.

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