Question

Describe an experiment conducted by Joseph Priestley which revealed the essential role of air in the growth of green plants.

Answer 1

1. Joseph Priestley in 1770 performed a series of experiments that revealed the essential role of air in the growth of green plants.
2. Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774.
3. Priestley observed that a candle burning in a closed space, a bell jar, soon gets extinguished.
4. Similarly, a mouse would soon suffocate in a closed space of the bell jar.
5. He concluded that a burning candle or an animal, both somehow, damage air.
6. But when he placed a mint plant in the same bell jars, he found that the mouse stayed alive and the candle when lighted from outside continued burning in the presence of the mint plant.
7. Priestly hypothesized as plants restore to the air whatever breathing animals and burning candles remove.