BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Is water H20? - Hasok Chang\, Hans Rausing Professor of History an
 d Philosophy of Science
DTSTART:20141118T194500Z
DTEND:20141118T211500Z
UID:TALK56107@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:40164
DESCRIPTION:Every schoolchild knows that water is H2O\, but it was a terri
 bly difficult thing for scientists to learn originally. The story begins w
 ith the ‘Chemical Revolution’ of the late 18th century\, in which Lavo
 isier’s notion that water was a compound of oxygen and hydrogen flew in 
 the face of the traditional wisdom that it was an element. Cavendish\, who
  did the first synthesis of water from hydrogen and oxygen\, thought that 
 hydrogen and oxygen were merely water with an excess/deficit of ‘phlogis
 ton’. Priestley\, who made oxygen before Lavoisier\, also defended the p
 hlogiston theory. Even the electrolysis of water in 1800 failed to produce
  a consensus. And deciding that water was a compound was not the end of th
 e story. Dalton gave the formula of water as HO\, with atomic weights of H
  and O as (roughly) 1:8. It took half a century before consensus was reach
 ed on the modern set of atomic weights and molecular formulas including H2
 O. This story of the changing ontology of water is not only fascinating in
  itself\, but illustrates many important points about the nature of scient
 ific knowledge and its development.\n
LOCATION:Meeting Room\, Clare Hall\, Herschel Road\, Cambridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR