Question

The discovery of the fact that oxygen and hydrogen combine to form water, was a major step in the development of science. Who made this discovery?

• A. Carl Wilhelm Scheele
• B. Isaac Newton
• C. Joseph Priestley
• D. Henry Cavendish

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Henry Cavendish

It was the chemist Henry Cavendish (1731 – 1810), who discovered the composition of water when he experimented with hydrogen and oxygen and mixed these elements together to create an explosion (oxyhydrogen effect). In 1811, the Italian physician Amadeo Avogadro finally found the $H_{2}O$ formula for water.