Joseph Black

Joseph Black (1728–1799) was a Scottish physician and chemist who identified carbon dioxide and established the concepts of latent heat and specific heat.

Carbon dioxide: A colorless gas composed of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, produced by respiration and combustion. Black identified this gas as distinct from ordinary air and called it fixed air.
Magnesium carbonate: A mineral compound that releases carbon dioxide when heated or treated with acid. Black used magnesia alba experiments to distinguish fixed air from ordinary air.
William Cullen: A Scottish physician and chemist who taught at the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Cullen taught Black and introduced him to experimental chemistry and medical practice.
Phlogiston theory: An obsolete theory that explained combustion and calcination through the release of a substance called phlogiston. Black’s gas experiments complicated explanations of combustion based on phlogiston.
Latent heat: Heat absorbed or released during a phase change without changing a substance’s temperature. Black introduced this concept to explain why melting ice absorbs heat at a steady temperature.
Limestone: A sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate. Heating limestone provided Black with evidence that fixed air could be driven from a solid.
James Watt: A Scottish instrument maker and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine transformed its efficiency. Black’s explanation of latent heat informed Watt’s understanding of steam and engine performance.
Steam engine: A heat engine that uses steam pressure to produce mechanical work. Latent heat clarified why steam could carry and release large amounts of energy in engines.
Specific heat capacity: The heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance by one degree. Black developed the concept to compare how different substances warm under equal heating.
Phase transition: A change between physical states of matter, such as melting or boiling. Latent heat describes energy exchanged during phase transitions without a temperature change.

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